Theorethical considerations about Innovation in the Public Sector - potentials, consequences and misunderstandings PhD student Laia Martinez, Institute for Society and Globalisation, Roskilde University

Theme and type of the paper Innovation in the Public Sector with emphasis on collaboration and on innovation management Theorethical paper

Contributions Theory development about innovation Descriptive definition of innovation and not normative Analysis of innovation as a dependent variable of collaboration and innovation management Criteria for evaluating innovation

Purpose of the paper To reflect on the concept of innovation in the public sector and to problematise it To explain potentials of innovation to break up deadlocks, silos, improve the policies and services, etc. To explain consequences of innovation: innovation as a process, managed chaos (innovation management), collaborative dimension To explain misunderstandings of innovation: normative vs. descriptive, as a goal in itself or a process?, understanding innovation in general terms

Context of the paper The paper is part of my PhD project Ambition to convert the paper into an article

Findings of the paper I Innovation needs to be understood as a crossdiscipline Innovation needs to be defined descriptive and not normative: Innovation is the complex process of creating and implementing new ideas to a particular context with the intentional purpose of improving the quality of public policies and services

Findings of the paper II Innovation requires a collective effort due the complexity, the risks and ressources that it takes. It implies a process of socialisation. Innovation need to be negociated and is not achieved through contracts!

Findings of the paper III Criteria for evaluating outputs and outcomes of innovation: 1. Compare the initial purposes of innovation 2. Use criteria based on social capital 3. Efficiency terms (labour costs reduced or less bureocracy) 4. Quality terms 5. Digital technologies 6. Organisatorial terms (shared communication)

Findings of the paper IV Innovation processes are complex and requires management: innovation management Innovation management is an open concept with a pluralistic view of the roles