Public Sector Innovation Conference: Chair's Blog

Like'digital transformation', innovation is an over-used and under-examined term. This applies within business generally, but more especially within the public sector, where there are limits to the amount of disruption and risk that it is considered acceptable to carry within the public domain. Further, a range of questions arises when government'innovates'. These include building the culture and incentives for innovation; understanding what innovation in the digital era is actually about (clue: it's not simply about having a new idea); handling the public-private sector relationship differently; scaling innovations; and handling the politics that inevitably surround changes of almost any kind to public services. The opportunity to chair the second Public Sector Innovation Conference on 25 February was a great opportunity to reflect on these, and many of the other tensions and opportunities that surround ongoing modernisation of public services, and benefit from a really high-quality speaker lineup.