Ponencia impartida por Melani Oliver, directora del programa Innovación en el Gobierno Local de Nesta, el 5 de julio de 2013 en la II European Summer School of Social Innovation

1. Innovating in Public Services
Melani Oliver Director of
Innovation in Local Government
Nesta
5th July 2013.

2. 1. Why a shift is needed?
2. What is Nesta and why does it exist?
3. How do you “do” innovation?
4. Examples of innovation in local government –
Creative Councils and Radical
Efficiency/Transforming Early Years

3. Why the Shift?
• Austerity
• Demographics
• Self-determinism
• Broader definition of value

4. A charity with a mission to help people and organisations bring great ideas to
life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research,
networks and skills, funded by a £320m endowment

5. Innovation….But some things tend to get
neglected
…but alsoNot only…

6. Radical
Efficiency

7. BETTER
_ _ ___ _____ ________ ________
________
DIFFERENT
LOWER COST
public services

9. Setting the Context
• The challenges we faced as a council.
• The opportunity to think radically,
with support from the Innovation
Unit and Nesta.
• Listening to families and their
lived experience.

10. Post-interview Analysis
• Professional solutions were not working.
• Safety is a key issue.
• A desire for more parenting support.
• Very positive views about Sure Start.
• Limited social capital.

11. The Challenge
The key challenge is to fundamentally shift
the nature of the relationships our services
have with our citizens.
Shifting the balance of power

12. What did we do?
• Worked with families to define the issue.
• Service design and blueprint
• Blueprinted services with the families.
• Prototyped the solution with the families.
• Launched the Parents Supporting Parents
programme.

14. How do you “do” innovation?

15. Opportunities and Challenges
Problems
Opportunities
Crises
Cost escalation
Campaigns and petitions
Failure demand
Political mandates
User feedback
New perspectives and insights
New funding programmes
Gaps in the market
Demand
Complaints
New paradigms
New evidence and theories
New technologies
Unmet needs

16. Seeking different perspectives
Wild cards
Decision-makers
Advisors and
experts
Leading edge
practitioners
Professionals
and wider
workforces
Customers and
end users
The
challenge

17. Generating new insights

18. Generating ideas and proposals

19. TRIZ
Brainstorms
Aim to generate LOTS of ideas
“The way to get
good ideas is to
get lots of
ideas, and
throw the bad
ones away.”
Dr Linus Pauling,
American chemist and
bio-chemist

20. Generating ideas and proposals
Competitions and prizes
Stimulating thinking
Developing ideas
Ideas marketplaces
Festivals and camps
Design tools
TRIZ
Brainstorms
Artists/thinkers in residence
Crowd-sourcing
Networking
Collaborative enquiry
User-led design
A teams
Skunkworks
Theory of change
Incentives
Creative thinking tools

21. Camps and festivals
Design tools
Collaborative
enquiry
Generate many
viable ideas in a
short time frame
Bring new teams
together around an
idea or challenge

22. Specialised roles in organisations
Design tools
Brainstorms
Collaborative
enquiry
Entrepreneurs in
residence
Thinkers in
residence
Skunk Works

23. Prizes and incentives
Design tools
Collaborative
enquiry
Prizes can mobilise
large groups to come
up with new ideas
and solve problems
...to reducing carbon
emissions
From measuring
longitude...

24. Developing and testing

25. Make ideas tangible
Drawing and
story boarding
Making
mock ups
Role plays
and
simulations

26. Developing services

27. Making the Case

28. Cost benefit modelling
Cost figure
Activity measure
Unit cost=
Step 1: Identify all
inputs to the service
Step 2: Identify all
outputs to the service
Step 3: Estimate the
costs of all the inputs
Step 4: Calculate the
unit cost
How is it a better use of
resource?
How is this different,
better, cost effective,
likely to be profitable?

29. Delivering and implementation

30. Design tools
Brainstorms
Collaborative
enquiry
DELIVERING AND IMPLEMENTATION
Policy
commitment
Business models Loans, equity and quasi-equity
Programme fundingGrants for growth
Organisation and
management models
Leadership and governance
Designing teams
Skill and capacity development
Venture finance
Public regulation
Crowd funding
Social Impact Bonds

31. Implementation involves...
• Building operational
systems and processes to
deliver for customers
• Evaluation
• Quality assurance
• Building brand profile
• Marketing
• Organisational structure
• Governance structure
• Legal forms
• Recruitment
• Skill development
• Loans
• Equity
• Quasi-equity
• Crowd-funding
Business
models and
finance
People and
governance
Intellectual
capital
Reputations
and
effectiveness

32. Growing, scaling spreading

33. Design tools
Brainstorms
Collaborative
enquiry
Growing, scaling and spreading
Growing an organisation
or venture
Changing behaviour
Campaigning
Storytelling
Networking
Coaching
Training
BroadcastingDissemination
Networking
Advertising
Incentives
Franchising
Open source
Licensing
Federations and chains
Mergers and acquisitions
Copying
Adopting

34. Different ways to scale
Business
growth
Franchising Licensing
Which growth model is most suitable?

35. Scaling in the public sector
4,000
schools

36. System change

37. Systemic change
To get from here... ...to here...
...many things need to change in tandem

39. Our ambitions
• To support a small number of innovations come
to life and have real impact.
• Help to spread innovations
• Raise the level and quality of debate about
innovation in local government
• Help develop innovation skills across local
government.

40. Assumptions
• The challenges demand radical,
transformative innovations
• Local government has the
responsibility and capabilities
• Need to get better at
systematically creating and
spreading innovations
Call for ideas
137 responses
6 months intensive
practical and
financial support to
develop and test
ideas
Six most promising
get support for
further year.
Focus on spreading
17 shortlisted
2 day camp

41. Derbyshire

42. Stoke

43. Wigan

44. Four key factors
• Challenging assumptions through new insights
• Decision making and risk management
• Communication and engagement
• Making it real

45. Where does this get us?
• It is extremely hard but make everyday
count
• Vision- remember you moral purpose.
• Learn , travel and reflect
• Stop doing what you have always
done/decommissioning
• Build collaborations and know your
authorising enviroment.

46. Segmentation based on Pressures
(Credit to John Flowers – Veredus)
LA
NewCo
JV
SE
VC
Private Sector

47. Taking control of
your own
destiny
Four Futures for Local Government
(Credit John Flowers – Veredus)

48. For further information contact:-
Melani.oliver@nesta.org.uk
Or visit:
www.nesta.org.uk/creativecouncils