Replicating, scaling-up and disseminating innovations Françoise WAINTROP, France
We are chasing an ILLUSION that the “right solution” or a “good practice” exists which can be duplicated and replicated throughout an entire administration
Modernising government through innovation: the “FUTURS PUBLICS” initiative The Lab The Hub Promote a culture of innovation & co-construction in the public environment Imagine and introduce radical innovations in public policies & services (experimentation)
“Futurs Publics” principles Do the groundwork and co-construct with actors Create innovation areas Encourage initiative-taking Find ingenious solutions and use resources sparingly Make change tangible
Two types of experimentation coexist Top-down experimentation (“lab-based” approaches, political procurement) REPLICATION, DISSEMINATION, SCALING-UP ? Local initiatives, grassroots (e.g. participatory approaches such as innovation prizes or consultations)
Consultation, innovation prizes, etc. Launch consultations with State officials online and in territories regarding the priorities for modernising public policy Provide a better service to users Improve internal operation Simplify regulations 6
Examples of innovative experiments Develop prototypes of future local public services Develop the use of digital technologies for teaching in schools Run trials of simplified applications for social care Develop prototypes of future services for the disabled
Develop prototypes of future local public service agencies Quatre projets en « mode laboratoire » sont engagés Develop prototypes of future local public service agencies WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED Interest in exploring a challenging area for public policy through approaches based on immersion, service design and rapid development of prototypes. Need for change in administrations’ stance. Limits to approaches solely at the micro-local level – need to deploy at the national level and to link results together as part of a national approach/project. > Determine the local needs of users, identify the potential for using digital technologies, develop prototypes of new service solutions for users, and test the relevance of multi-service access points in local actors’ ecosystems.
Develop the use of digital technologies for teaching in schools WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED Construction of an applied anthropology of teachers’ practices (immersion, ethnography). An understanding of the dynamics of adopting digital technologies. Identification of practices to be deployed more widely and not processes or models. Combination of a short-term approach (development of prototypes) with a medium-term approach (dissemination of digital applications and practices). > Give actors in the educational community the ability to mainstream digital inputs into practices, particularly teaching practices. Grassroots application: immersion in three secondary schools in France with a multi-disciplinary team.
Trialling new mechanisms to create a “replication/dissemination culture” (1/2) Offer “replication” challenges/prizes to actors and managers Provide targeted communications on potentially replicable innovations to different departments/directorates/administrations. Increase the weighting of the “replicability-diffusion” criterion in the evaluation of innovative initiatives and the description of factors replicability or transfer to other bodies. Encourage the authors of innovative projects to seize the initiative with regard to replicability and to propose new areas in which to develop their project more expansively.
Trialling new mechanisms to create a “replication/diffusion culture” (2/2) During an experimental project, ensure a continuous “two-way exchange” between the national level (level for decision-making, financing and generalisation) and the local level (level for action and relations with users). Draw on communities, trades and practices (collaborative sites and bodies such as professional social networks). Identify and analyse practices to be deployed more widely. And make others want to reproduce them, move them forward, adapt them, etc. Propose several models for selection and deployment with scope for adapting them to the local (social, cultural, economic, etc.) context.
The Futurs Publics community is made up public innovation practitioners Organising and facilitating exchanges between administrations : the public innovation practitioners community comprises ministries, operators and local authorities Working and hosting procedures: Organisation de quarterly meetings on a given topic and feedback between administrations. Organisation of cross-cutting operational workshops on: 1. professional social networks and innovation; 2. management of post innovation prize phases; 3. trialling of a new type of training – innovation action; Introduction of immersion approaches in respective innovative projects.
Exchanging practices and methods Co-operating at an international level to ensure better dissemination – Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI – OECD) 22 Member countries Over 120 innovations Exchanging practices and methods A new way to co-operate Innovation implies an international perspective, which is why we are participating in the OECD project to create a website dedicated to public sector innovation (database and collaborative space).
Lessons learned Replicate practices and not processes. Make actors want to drive change and to reproduce innovation. Draw on mechanisms that incentivise actors to replicate local initiatives. Find room for initiative and adaptation in management at the local level. Get organised in order to promote innovation and dissemination (community of practices, OPSI, professional social networks, etc.)