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Capability Building Programme. Scaling Up Innovation in the Public Sector. Final report of the Capability Building Programme Project Group April 2011
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Capability Building Programme Scaling UpInnovationin the Public Sector Final report of the Capability Building Programme Project Group April 2011 This report was produced as a result of a twelve week project undertaken by a team drawn from across the public service. It is not a statement of Government policy. Rather, it comprises a set of ideas and propositions to inform and support future policy and service delivery across the wider public sector.
Executive Summary 1 2 Project context, objectives, approach 3 Discover 4 Distil 5 Design 6 Taking this forward 7 Annexes 2
Executive Summary • This report sets out proposals to support scaling up innovation in the public sector. • The challenge is complex: there is no shortage of good ideas, big and small, within and outside of the public sector, yet, there is a failure to scale them up and spread innovative solutions. We are in an era of public service reform with pressures on resources and major structural change across the public sector and this may constrain the opportunities and enthusiasm for scaling up. • However, the shift away from ‘Big Government’, towards the ‘Big Society’, including an emphasis on social reform, localism and community empowerment, presents a genuine opportunity to be more radical in galvanising the scaling up of innovation across the Public Sector. • We reviewed the literature on scaling up innovation and spoke to both ‘catalysts’ (those who fund, support or design solutions in scaling up) and ‘practitioners’ (those who do it). We distilled everything they told us into 8 key themes which highlight the conditions necessary to successfully scale up innovation across the public sector: • Culture: build a culture that rewards and encourages scaling up innovation • Evidence: make the business case and demonstrate the social return • Skills: embed skills needed for scaling up and understand that skills to innovate and to scale up are different • Networks: develop and use networks to make connections, provide advice, share knowledge and create dialogue • Processes: embed processes and mechanisms that facilitate scaling up • Ownership: recognise that a feeling of ownership acts as an incentive to share learning about what works • Resources: manage resources, funding, expertise and support to actively encourage scaling up. • Credibility: credibility, endorsement and reputation provide the business case for scaling up
We took the eight themes and reviewed them in the light of the Open Public Services White Paper to design our overarching bold recommendation. Culture Evidence, Social Returns, Outcomes Skills Networks and Knowledge Sharing Open Public Services White Paper Processes and Mechanisms Ownership Resources To achieve this, work is needed in four key areas. Credibility
Executive Summary • To create the systemic change required under our bold recommendation, we identified four areas for priority action: • Create the conditions that maximise the capacity for innovative ideas to scale across the public sector; • Ensure that the public sector has the organisational culture, leadership, and people conducive to supporting the scaling up of innovative ideas. • Establish networksthat facilitate the dissemination of innovative ideas that could be scaled, supporting the spread of knowledge; and • Use appraisal and evaluationof innovative ideas to provide the business case for scaling, to ensure the right ideas are implemented and driven forward. • We have proposed nine recommendations in response to these four areas: • Government should consider the merit of drawing together a small central resource to co-ordinate support for the scaling up activity needed to bring about the required organisational and cultural change at the centre. This should also include linking in to the Open Public Services White Paper recommendations on common evaluation. • Central and local government should work together to establish a programme to facilitate and encourage public sector organisations at all levels to proactively come together to scale up specific innovations or areas of good practice from any source or sector. This should include: finding a way to pull together cross-agency teams to work on specific time-limited scaling projects; establishing Action Learning Sets; developing evaluation to suit different organisational circumstances; and support to make a business case for scaling up. • Establish an expert learning network in outcome-based commissioning for those working in both policy and practical delivery.
Executive Summary • 4a. Design a model for portfolio management of resources whereby a number of ideas are funded in parallel and funding form those that fail is diverted to those that succeed. Test the model and document the learning. • 4b. Adopt the learning from the testing of the portfolio funding model and implement the model. • Explore whether the tested model /process for scaling up digital innovations can be applied more widely and apply it. • Use corporate tools, skills development and leadership activity to encourage effective scaling up of innovation. • Establish a mentor or buddy scheme for individuals who have an idea they want to scale, offering one-to-one support to establish that the idea can be scaled and the best method for doing so. In turn, those supported are actively developed as change agents by the mentor to support others in the cycle. • Establish an one stop online shop for public sector innovators to find out about innovative ideas that could be or have been adopted or adapted elsewhere. • Add a category to existing Civil Service Awards to incentivise scaling up activity to both reward effective scaling up activity and provide an opportunity to articulate the range of ideas that can be successfully scaled in future.
In designing our recommendations, we considered the need to both facilitate scaling up from the centre and find ways to provide dynamic support at the point where scaling up is happening CORPORATE INTERVENTIONS AT THE CENTRE to co-ordinate support and drive culture change INTERMEDIARIES Support and guidance to innovators who have ideas with potential to scale up INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM ANY LOCATION OR ORGANISATION A change is needed at a range of levels: central, local, individual
Here are our nine key recommendations in more detail. The first two concern central support for innovators. For each of the recommendations below, we set out what should be done, by whom and when. Where we can, we also link to the work done by the team to test or start acting on the recommendations and set out the longer term improvement we expect to be the result of acting on the recommendation. • Central co- • ordination Government should consider the merit of drawing together a small central resource to co-ordinate support for the scaling up activity needed to bring about the required organisational and cultural change at the centre. This streamlining will simplify overall co-ordination of support while allowing for individual differences in approach. This should also include linking in to the Open Public Services White Paper recommendations on common evaluation. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result BIS / DCLG 2011 Not tested It will be clearer where to get support for those with good ideas to both assess the potential to scale and how best to do so. As scaling up becomes the norm, it becomes natural to embed it into policy design and delivery. 2. Expert resource pool Central and local government should work together to establish a programme to facilitate and encourage public sector organisations at all levels to proactively come together to scale up specific innovations or areas of good practice from any source or sector. This should include: finding a way to pull together cross-agency teams to work on specific time-limited scaling projects; establishing Action Learning Sets; developing evaluation to suit different organisational circumstances; and support to make a business case for scaling up. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: BIS / LGID 2011 Project team process is itself an example of running a time-limited scaling project Better and more cross-government working leads to: more effective sharing and application of learning; development of a public sector innovation mindset; a strong evidence base.
Our next three recommendations concern commissioning and funding 3. Outcome-based commissioning Establish an expert learning network in outcome-based commissioning for those working both in policy and practical delivery. This should include talking to Local Authorities and LGID. It will help those involved understand the range of approaches being used and share learning about what works best and in what circumstances. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: DH December 2011 Not tested Clearer commissioning processes and increased accessibility to more potential applicants which in turn will lead to better outcomes. Clear evaluation processes and outcomes. 4a. Portfolio Funding: develop Design a model for portfolio management of resources whereby a number of ideas are funded in parallel and funding from those that fail can be diverted to those that succeed. This allows innovators to ‘test it, prove it, grow it and adopt it’. Test the model with practitioners both within DH structures and with a range of Local Authorities. Who implements: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result Proposed timescale: DH National Innovation Fund Model developed: Sept 2011 Testing starts: Jan 2012 Team identified potential attendees for a co-design session but were not able to complete in time. Fear of failure and risk are reduced so more people are more likely to scale up more good ideas. 4b. Portfolio funding: adopt Adopt learning from the testing at recommendation 4 and implement the model Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result (TBC) 2012 Not tested Risk is reduced by application to the most suitable kind of resource funding
We also have recommendations about making best use of tools, frameworks and individual support 5. Scaling up framework Explore whether the tested model / process for scaling up digital innovation can be applied more widely and apply it. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: DCLG / BIS / LGID December 2011 Digital Scaling Up framework (see Annex J) Innovators ‘new to market’ find it easier to scale up. Can be used in conjunction with mentor or other expert resource 6. Corporate tools Government should use corporate tools (e.g. Include scaling in Business plans and individual objectives); skills development (e.g. Include in CSL Skills Strategy and competency framework); and leadership activity (e.g. Cabinet Secretary champions scaling up in guidance and speeches) to encourage effective scaling up of innovation Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: HMG: CO lead 2011 Talked to Defra about mainstreaming scaling up into Government's crowd-sourcing approach to e.g. prevent regulation that works against scaling up Principles and process of scaling up become embedded in Civil Service culture and policy through senior buy-in, recognition of value of scaling up and better staff engagement 7. Mentor scheme Establish a mentor or buddy scheme for individuals who have an idea they want to scale. The mentor provides one-to-one support to establish that the idea is scalable and what support is needed to make it happen. In turn, those supported are actively developed as change agents by the mentor to support others in the cycle. This requires explicit support from the employing organisation e.g. Allowing time for meetings Areas tested by project team: Who implements: Proposed timescale: How the world will be different as a result: HMG: DCLG lead 2011 Natural Value Ambassadors at Defra are a network of credible change agents who will include a focus on scaling up ideas A virtuous circle of support and active learning ensures a constant stream of developed and scaled ideas to improve public service.
Our final two recommendations will help innovators find ideas or advice on and offer an incentive for scaling up 8. One-stop shop Establish a one-stop online shop for public sector innovators to find out about ideas that could be or have been adopted or adapted elsewhere. This should signpost existing sources of advice (e.g. Business Link, the Innovation Launch Pad and LGID's Community of Practice), be in a searchable format and capture examples of successful scaling up in an interactive way. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: DCLG / BIS December 2011 Identified current platforms and sources of support and have started talks to establish a single platform. Simpler and more consistent means of finding out about ideas and tools that might help individuals scale up and benefit from existing practice. Networks develop to offer additional peer support. 9. Award Add a category to existing Civil Service Awards to incentivise scaling up activity. This will both reward effective scaling up activity and provide an opportunity to articulate the range of ideas that can be successfully scaled in future. It can also be used to help identify a network of Scaling Up Champions or future mentors. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: HMG: BIS with CO lead 2011 Initial conversation with awards team was positive Successful scaling up and the people who do it are recognised and become role models for others which leads to more successful scaling up.
Executive Summary • Finally, we have reviewed the learning for team members as future change agents and highlighted some examples of how this has helped them improve their working practice. We have also organised a number of events or other means of disseminating the learning from the project: • Civil Service Live workshop on scaling up innovation in July 2011 • Post-project diffusion event to share recommendations with interviewees and workshop attendees • Share report with the BIS Public Sector Innovation Delivery Group which includes organisations interested in public sector innovation • DCLG Policy Picnic to highlight project findings and what this means for the Civil Service • Blog post on the Public Sector Innovation portal • Project LinkedIn group: taking forward conversations about scaling up • Innovate! Newsletter: dedicated edition to scaling up innovation project. • DCLG Executive team meeting item
Executive Summary 1 2 Project context, objectives, approach 3 Discover 4 Distil 5 Design 6 Taking this forward 7 Annexes 13
What is public sector innovation? Embedding innovation within public sector organisations benefits policy making, service design, and service delivery. Project definitions “Successful innovation is the creation and implementation of new processes, products, services and methods of delivery which result in significant improvements in outcomes, efficiency, effectiveness or quality”.[2] Mulgan & Albury, 2003 Innovation is generating new ideas that work in practice – and being willing to learn from those that don’t. More broadly, innovation within the public sector is about working with our customers and the frontline to apply new ways of thinking to public sector challenges; and new ways of working to public sector organisations. A conducive culture plays an important role: structures and leadership need to support innovation to make it happen systematically in an organisations So, we defined innovation as the processes and ideas about how to do things differently that work to create or improve public value and outcomes. But what happens next after we’ve worked to develop, test, refine, prototype, and implement the great idea? This is where the scaling up of innovation matters. This means we disseminate, diffuse, exchange, share, and apply the lessons learned from innovative ideas more widely. If something works, it should be adopted elsewhere (inside the same or another organisation) or, if not directly applicable, adapted to deliver similar benefits elsewhere. “Doing things as we have always done them won’t be good enough. We must find new insights and develop new ways of working. In short we need to build on our capacity to innovate, to make innovation central to our work.”[1] Sir Gus O’Donnell, 2009 [1] http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/corporate/docs/b/bis-package-of-support-prospectus.pdf [2] Mulgan, G. and Albury, D. (2003) Innovation in the Public Sector. The Strategy Unit. p23
There is no shortage of good ideas, big and small, within and outside of the public sector. Yet, there is a failure to scale them up and spread innovative solutions. President Clinton is often cited in this context: “Nearly every problem has been solved by someone somewhere. The challenge of the twenty-first century is to find out what works and scale it up”. As the public sector seeks to generate more innovative solutions to policy problems and challenges, it is clear that we still have a lot to learn in how to scale up successes and apply the lessons learned from innovative ideas more widely. • To address this challenge, DCLG and BIS commissioned a project team to explore the questions set out below. How can we effectively ‘scale up’ & disseminate the lessons learned from good and innovative ideas within and across the public sector? What are the mechanisms and processes that help translate innovations from one locality, tailor and then embed them in another? What are the opportunities brought about by the Big Society and Localism; moving control away from the centre? How can we share knowledge laterally across the public sector? “Our public services desperately need an injection of openness, creativity and innovation…” Prime Minister, David Cameron Rather than explore what innovation is, or what conditions are required to stimulate it within the public sector, the focus was on scaling up. However, some of our findings on barriers and enablers to scaling up innovation clearly illuminate innovation more generally
Scaling up is essential to ensuring that the public sector meets its policy challenges. Successful innovations that are not scaled up are a lost opportunity to meet the challenges the public sector faces. The public sector needs to develop the tools and expertise to scale up. The Australian Public Service suggests that dissemination of innovative ideas and approaches “can help governments to avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ and maximise the value of investments”[1]. In turn, if widely encouraged, such a systemic approach to diffusing innovation can “lead to new services or service delivery modes, the development of new concepts, new policy or administrative approaches, and new systems”. But why is it essential to scale up? And why is it essential to scale up now? We are in an era of public service reform with pressures on resources and major structural change across the public sector and this may constrain the opportunities and enthusiasm for scaling up. The shift away from ‘Big Government’, towards the ‘Big Society’, including an emphasis on social reform, localism and community empowerment, presents a genuine opportunity to be more radical in galvanising the scaling up of innovation across the public sector. Case study examples of scaling up innovation in practice can be found at Annex G (international) and Annex H (UK) [1] Empowering Change, p7, http://www.apsc.gov.au/mac/empoweringchange.htm
Scaling up in the ‘new world’ of open public services Within the new model for public service reform there are new drivers and levers to enable scaling up across the public sector. WHY Big Society budget reduction public service reform growth agenda decentralisation localism transparency citizens private sector The new model for public service delivery involves a shift away from central and local government regulation and funding; top down targets; and audit and inspection. Instead, the drivers and levers for scaling up in the new world that stretches beyond the usual service providers, include: behaviour change, collaboration, co-production, openness, transparency, incentives, de-regulation, enabling and influencing. Central government becomes the catalyst for change and stimulator of innovation – firstly by building the structures for localism and open public services; and secondly, by mobilising people and organisations to take forward opportunities created by the new landscape. This makes the challenge to scale up – the need to identify success and find ways to disseminate it – all the more important. service users central government local government health care providers HOW enabling influencing co-production collaboration marketplace openness incentives social enterprises mutuals and co-ops SMEs third sector localism and community empowerment opening up of public services social action
Project team membership To make the most of these levers to tackle the challenge of scaling up, DCLG and BIS commissioned a Breakthrough Solutions cross-government project to develop recommendations and practical solutions. Capability Building Programme Sponsored jointly by DCLG and BIS, and facilitated by the Capability Building Programme in the National School of Government, the project provided a unique opportunity to challenge the ‘silo’ stereotype of central government working, and create the space for productive cross-public sector working. An in-house public sector ‘consultancy team’ was recruited to tackle the policy challenge, for a day a week for twelve weeks. From the start, the team was clear that we needed to take a cross-government and cross-sector approach to the scaling up challenge. Emphasis was placed on the value of collaboration, constructive challenge, and creativity in generating innovative solutions. Our thirteen strong team was recruited from across central and local government from wide variety of roles and departments including… Our team was also challenged to take an innovative approach to this project as individuals. We were encouraged to think about how we could ourselves become a network of change agents beyond the end of the project. By taking this approach, we would be equipped with ideas to implement different ways of working and thinking, and be more motivated to share these more widely with our partners. See slide 43 for examples of how this learning has already been applied by team members or will be in future. • Finance • Human resources • Strategy and policy • Change management • Statistical profession • Public sector innovation • IT and digital innovation • Employment A list of team members is at Annex A
To understand scaling up and address the challenge, we broke the work down into three main stages. 1. Discover 2. Distil 3. Design reflecting, discussing findings, identifying emerging themes, and analysing what this means fact finding, researching, interviewing, developing workstreams, and looking beyond the usual suspects developing ideas for action, prototyping them, and putting forward bold recommendations WHAT DOES IT MEAN? IDEAS FOR ACTION Catalysts Practitioners
Executive Summary 1 2 Project context, objectives, approach 3 Discover 4 Distil 5 Design 6 Taking this forward 7 Annexes 20
There is a wealth of published research on fostering innovation but less on scaling up. However, the literature review we carried out did lead us to some conclusions on scaling up. 1. Discover * Evidence was gathered from a literature review of over 25 bodies of work. The literature review looked beyond scaling up innovation to related phenomena, for example, scaling up good practice and knowledge sharing. Innovation in context – local applicability, scale or relevance is key to scaling up Need to resource “roll-outs” and local adoption properly – tend to have heavily resourced pilots vs thinly resourced replication Champions to be responsible for scaling-up and reinforcing commitment, enthusiasm and confidence Active transfer of experience amongst the right community including mentors Understanding the adverse impact of regulation on the local adoption of innovative solutions Evaluation using credible and consistent metrics, designed with scaling up in mind, showing what works in what circumstances and why A ruthless sifting process to determine which ideas are really worth scaling up and where focus should be Responsive, outcome-focused funding models (e.g. stage gate funding) We identified 3 ways of looking at scaling up at this stage: push-pull, adapt-adopt and horizontal-vertical. See Annex C for more detail. See Annex B for a full reference list.
Having looked at the literature, we wanted to understand more about the conditions required to scale up. We ran a workshop with think tanks, funders and academics, who stimulate, support, invest in and advise on scaling up 1. Discover * Data was gathered from an interactive workshop with 12 ‘innovation expert’ attendees. Discussions were organised around the themes of people, processes, resources and organisations. Before the workshop, the ‘catalysts’ were asked what the key three features of scaling up were.Here are the top 6. Resources – successful scaling up requires different skills to the original pilot or innovation. A pilot is often heavily resourced in a way that any subsequent roll out can’t be Risk management – being able to manage risk effectively and feel able to “pull the plug” on activity when things don’t work Know clearly when something should be scaled up, using metrics and cost benefit analysis Listen to the local voices quietly saying what works These ‘catalysts’ told us what they think is needed and what the barriers are Organisational culture – reluctance to accept and discuss failure is more common in larger organisations and can prevent learning and the sharing of experience which leads to successful scaling-up Needs to be evaluation of existing innovations to establish if rolling them out elsewhere is worthwhile Pool and align funding across organisations to allow them to adopt innovations or scale them up Making the most of marketing and competition – using reward, access to resources and pooled funding to achieve success and attract the right skills mix at the right times Ensure diffusion plans and strategies for scaling up are in place from inception Refine success (outcomes not outputs) to understand what to scale up Efficient Processes – mechanisms for scaling up and credible, accessible sources for sharing and listening to experience See Annex D for list of organisations attended and the purpose.
We also spoke to innovators and practitioners to understand the practical opportunities and challenges faced by those attempting to scale up innovative ideas. Here is what they told us: 1. Discover * Data was gathered from over 30 one-to-one interviews with a range of innovators, including social entrepreneurs and enterprises, representatives of the voluntary and community sector, individuals from private sector organisations, and public sector employees from both central and local government. For further examples of what our interviewees said, see Annex E “Access to the right people – connections are the most important factor. We often ask – ‘If we could open five doors for you, what would they be?’” “Bureaucracy needs to be removed and there needs to be a greater focus on outcomes rather than the process.” “The culture of many public bodies is very risk adverse…it is a mentality that stops things happening.” “It [scaling up innovation] needs clarity of rationale and objectives and a strong evidence base to succeed.” “Almost all ideas need a degree of trialling and contesting before ‘going to market’ – once a model has evolved and is tried and tested, the ‘pedigree’ promotes confidence.” “Solutions need to be tailored to a local area but, the lessons learnt from developing those solutions are completely transferable.” • “You need good evaluation of the inception / feasibility phase so that you know what works and can extrapolate to predict some of the challenges.” “Working alongside people makes a real difference… find the bright sparks, put them in a room together and they can have a chat.” “Government needs to provide specific points of contact that enterprises can approach and connect with; the current systems, bureaucracy and culture hinder worthwhile engagement.” “We need to fundamentally redefine the relationship that we have with citizens… we must ensure that citizens understand our processes and systems”. “Innovation often means working in a new and different way – attempting to operate under old structures just wastes significant amounts of time and money.” “There must be an internal narrative in the organisation that follows through innovation as part of the core objectives, otherwise the trust that scaling up will occur will be lacking.” See Annex E for a list of those interviewed, and the interview questions used.
Executive Summary 1 2 Project context, objectives, approach 3 Discover 4 Distil 5 Design 6 Taking this forward 7 Annexes 24
2. Distil The information gathered in our discover phase was distilled into eight core themes that highlight the pre-requisites for, and barriers to, successfully scaling up innovation across the public sector. Culture Building open and “supportive culture [that] reward[s] and encourage[s] innovation” provides the public sector with “both the means and the permission to innovate”[1]. Requires: shift in attitudes, move away from risk adversity, senior buy in and mandate, credible champions, and collective will. Evidence, Social Returns, Outcomes Importance of evidence in demonstrating the social return and positive outcomes of an innovative idea to provide the business case for scalability. Requires: horizon scanning, prototyping to gather evidence, evaluation of what’s out there, upscaling as a business tool. Skills Being innovative and understanding how to scale up good ideas should be embedded into the skill set of every public sector worker. Requires: public sector skill set focusing on being open, collaborative, creative, innovative; co-designing; creating a network of mentors and buddies. Networks and Knowledge Sharing Having in place networks (formal and informal) to: make connections, provide peer advice, link up those who have done it before, share learning and knowledge, share tools, provide platforms, provide leverage, create relationships and dialogue, act as change agents, and support bright sparks. Processes and Mechanisms Without organised processes and structures in place to encourage the sharing of information across the public sector, it is difficult to facilitate and support the roll out of innovative ideas. Requires: open source policy making framework, flexibility to try and pilot, adaption of external ideas internally. Ownership ‘Owning’ an idea and being seen to own it acts as an incentive that helps facilitate knowledge sharing. There is also a role here for considering the role of community ownership of an idea, and listening to the local voice. Resources Manage the resources, funding, expertise and support for scaling up. Without resources in place to support an innovative idea, it’s unlikely to get to a prototype stage, or achieve the recognition it deserves to be adopted elsewhere. However, to over-resource at the start makes scaling up harder. Credibility Credibility, endorsement, and reputation all provide the business case for scaling up an innovative idea; alongside proof of concept and proof that it ‘works’. This generates trust, and helps bring in potential investors or service ‘buyers’ to diffuse the idea. [1] Empowering Change, 2010, p63
2. Distil Public sector organisations need to develop a supportive culture that shifts behaviours to value risk-taking and to build the evidence base to show what can be achieved by scaling up innovation Culture Building open and “supportive culture [that] reward[s] and encourage[s] innovation” provides the public sector with “both the means and the permission to innovate”[1]. Requires: shift in attitudes, move away from risk adversity, senior by in and mandate, credible champions, and collective will. Our evidence highlighted the following areas to focus on: A shift in organisational attitudes and behaviours to a culture that provides permission to try and fail, less risk adversity, and senior buy in to mandate prototyping new ideas Credible champions at all levels across the organisation, that have the personality and ability to raise awareness of the agenda, endorse ideas and provide the push for them to be scaled A collective will to address the problems at hand, and generate innovative solutions to challenges Committing time and resources to scaling up of innovation – and having rewards, incentives, and recognition in place to facilitate scaling up Overcoming the barriers and procurement practices that make it hard to fail (a) with public money, (b) in performance terms; and (c) in political terms Evidence, Social Returns, Outcomes Importance of evidence in demonstrating the social return and positive outcomes of an innovative idea to provide the business case for scalability. Requires: horizon scanning, prototyping to gather evidence, evaluation of what’s out there, upscaling as a business tool. Our evidence highlighted the following areas to focus on: Better evaluation of what else is out there to establish whether there are ideas to adapt or adopt elsewhere, and having the evidence to demonstrate whether this would be worthwhile Horizon scanning, and exploring potential threats, challenges, opportunities, and likely future developments to improve the robustness of our future policy decisions Sustainability, and finding alternative forms of funding to supplement start up capital (especially in the new marketplace) Having a long term strategy for the innovation, and understand the potential of the idea to transform the public service arena Pilots and prototyping of new and innovative ideas to gather the evidence that demonstrates successful outcomes, and to learn lessons from the failures and successes [1] Empowering Change, 2010, p63
Scaling up is more likely to succeed with the right skills base and support in place, using both individual mentors and networks to make connections 2. Distil Skills Being innovative and understanding how to scale up good ideas should be embedded into the skill set of every public sector worker. Requires: public sector skill set focusing on being open, collaborative, creative, innovative; co-designing; creating a network of mentors and buddies. Our evidence highlighted the following areas to focus on: Having empowered and skilled public servants who have the freedom to take an idea and deliver it (this does not necessarily mean they are the same people that generate the ideas) Creating a network of mentors and buddies whose skills, experience and remit includes scaling up of innovation Public servant skill set that focuses on the importance of being open, collaborative, creative, innovation, networked, and seeing links Putting in place training that facilitates and encourages the aforementioned public sector skill set Co-designing, to work with service users (not for them) to develop the best solutions to challenges Networks and Knowledge Sharing Having in place networks (formal and informal) to: make connections, provide peer advice, link up those who have done it before, share learning and knowledge, share tools, provide platforms, provide leverage, create relationships and dialogue, act as change agents, and support bright sparks. Our evidence highlighted the following areas to focus on: Horizon scanning, and building links with academia, think tanks, public intellectuals and others to proactively seek out new innovative ideas and approaches that might inspire new policies, new ways of solving or tackling problems and/or new ways of delivering desired outcomes Using new media to bring case studies alive, and enable real time learning and for visible progress to be demonstrated which will transfer lessons learned and knowledge Encouraging innovators to talk about their experience and show others the context, including failures and set backs, rather than simply writing case studies with a bias towards success Overcoming the boundaries of not having a network of contacts. Where a contact is needed to facilitate the scaling up of an innovative idea, it’s often difficult to find the right person, and gain access to networks within the public sector
For the following three core themes, written research evidence was not as strong. Instead, their importance was highlighted in the qualitative research gathered from the workshop, and one-to-one interviews. 2. Distil The right processes or structures and developing a sense of ownership can both facilitate rolling out or scaling up of successful innovations. Processes and Mechanisms Without organised processes and structures in place to encourage the sharing of information across the public sector, it is difficult to facilitate and support the roll out of innovative ideas. Requires: open source policy making framework, flexibility to try and pilot, adaption of external ideas internally. Our evidence highlighted the following areas to focus on: Having a policy- making framework in place that actively encourages and improves processes and opportunity for internal and external challenge to scaling up Ensuring that users and providers can influence priorities, which means the Government explains the rationale for their strategic priorities and is more flexible about how to (and who can) achieve them Flexibility within structures and processes to try, pilot, prototype, adapt and tailor innovative ideas to develop solutions locally Building external influences into internal structures and processes to ensure that the outside ideas are consistently being brought in and made the most of Providing market access to the public sector, and having the processes in place that actively encourage the innovators to bring their ideas to the table Ownership ‘Owning’ an idea and being seen to own it acts as an incentive that helps facilitate knowledge sharing. There is also a role here for considering the role of community ownership of an idea, and listening to the local voice. Feedback from our interviewees included: “Importance of ‘ownership’ in encouraging the dissemination and take up of ideas – this can be facilitated by making the process visible and transparent.” “Ownership of an idea can often build capacity and the ability to scale.” “Community ownership of an idea will encourage diffusion.” “Somebody needs to be listening to the quiet (local) voices that are saying “we’ve got a good idea and it works!”
2. Distil More can be done to think creatively about how to resource scaling up and to find a way to endorse ideas for scaling from the centre. Manage the resources, funding, expertise and support for scaling up. Without resources in place to support an innovative idea, it’s unlikely to get to a prototype stage, or achieve the recognition it deserves to be adopted elsewhere. However, to over-resource at the start makes scaling up harder. Resources Feedback from our interviewees included: “You need to provide support, access to expertise, knowledge on how to pilot and test, and provide understanding of how evidence works... All of this will create the environment for continuous improvement (they will feel empower and obligated to scale up as the tools, skills, and resources are there).” “Consider how you could make funding more tailored to enable local authorities to trial the more radical innovative ideas… Ringfencing and siloed localism often means that multiple agencies have split incentives – there should be central government backing to tackle this.“ “Not having funding or resources is a technical barrier to scaling up.” “How can you pool or align resources across organisations to help them scale up?” Credibility Credibility, endorsement, and reputation are all essential factors for providing a good business case for scaling up an innovative idea; alongside proof of concept and proof that it ‘works’. This generates trust, and helps bring in potential investors or service ‘buyers’ to diffuse the idea. Feedback from our interviewees included: “Publicly support good initiatives – talk about good examples to give projects a better chance of getting partners, resources, or recognition”. “Innovation needs visibility and accountability for it to be a success. If people don’t understand it, it’s unlikely to be scaled up. There needs to be a level of reputation, trust and openness (which can be facilitated by interpersonal behaviours).” “Need to have a proven business model to enable effective sales and marketing.” “How can you centrally endorse organisations to help them scale up?” “Credibility can be showcased by maintaining a key quality of service and demonstrating past success.”
Executive Summary 1 2 Project context, objectives, approach 3 Discover 4 Distil 5 Design 6 Taking this forward 7 Annexes 30
3. Design Our overarching bold recommendation is that to create the systemic change required, we need to design the conditions for our systems, processes, and institutions to actively support the scaling up of innovation. To achieve this, we must: • Create the conditions that maximise the capacityfor innovative ideas to scale across the public sector; and • Ensure that the public sector has the organisationalculture, leadership, and people conducive to supporting the scaling up of innovative ideas. • Establishing networksthat facilitate the dissemination of innovative ideas that could be scaled, supporting the spread of knowledge; and • Using appraisal and evaluationof innovative ideas to provide the business case for scaling, to ensure the right ideas are implemented and driven forward. By embracing this systemic change, we can in turn facilitate the conditions for: These conditions, in turn, will drive further improvements in capability and culture. Drawing on our evidence, we identified some underlying assumptions about how public services need to operate (within a model that embraces systemic change) for scaling up to occur in each of the 4 areas.
3. Design We must create the conditions that maximise the capacityfor innovative ideas to scale across the public sector. We must have: • Within the new model for open public services, for scaling up to occur we must: • decommission poor providers, enabling market entry for others • provide flexibility to develop solutions and target outputs at local areas • be transparent, and provide data and information in one location • ensure there is freedom to implement what is right • take an open source approach to challenges to develop solutions & digital applications • enable users and providers to influence policy priorities and outcomes • publicly support and acknowledge what works: providing credibility for scaling Led by central Gvmt through work on: Open Public Services OPS Big Society Bank Big Society Awards Transparency Business Plans Decentralisation Social Financing Barrier Busting Better Regulations Digital by Default Right to… Payment By Results Mutuals • This in turn will mean our internal central Government processes and structures: • provide flexibility to prototype innovative ideas • provide reward, recognition, and incentives for adoption (e.g. awards) • remove burdens and barriers that prevent the adoption of innovative ideas • de-regulate to create systemic change that encourages innovation at a local level • provide endorsement and support structures for innovative ideas • create a conducive policy environment for scaling up to occur • capture and share ideas more widely Processes and structures that support scaling up • Our focus must be to create the capacity to make best use of limited resources, and: • implement funding models and mechanisms that encourage scaling (e.g. stage-gating) • encourage resources to be pooled and aligned at a local level • provide new forms of resources (e.g. social impact bonds, payment by results) • provide new clarity on profit making in service provision • enable opportunities for portfolio approaches to piloting • encourage sustainability through alternative forms of funding start up capital • enable more diverse commissioning approaches Flexible resource mechanisms
3. Design We must ensure that the public sector has in place the organisational culture, leadership, and people supporting the scaling up of innovative ideas. We must have: • Our leaders must actively support the scaling up agenda, and: • provide permission to innovate • be tolerant of failure and risk • provide senior buy in of the agenda and mandate for prototyping ideas • act as positive role models and champion what works • provide proactive support for the switch to digital delivery Proactive Leadership support • Sitting above this must be an organisation culture and environment, that: • creates the space to think and work differently • provides collective will to generate innovative solutions to problems • removes barriers to scaling up innovation within structures and processes • has flexible and flatter organisational structures (focus on networks and • is transparent in learning (and sharing) lessons from failure and success • commits space, time, and resources to the scaling up of innovation • provides credible champions that have the personality and ability to raise awareness of the agenda, endorse ideas and provide the push for them to be scaled Must be driven throughout the wider public sector Flexible organisational culture and environment • And the skill set of people within the public sector, must highlight… • importance of co-designing and collaboration • focus on being empowered, open, creative, innovative, and networked • + ensure… • staff consistently scan the horizons, make connections and links across policy areas • we provide support, skills, and expertise to facilitate scaling up of ideas • we avoid complex and unnecessary language which discourages scaling up • there is an active learning environment • skills are in place to take forward public sector mutuals The right people skills
3. Design We must encourage the establishing of networks thatfacilitate the dissemination of innovative ideas that could be scaled, supporting the spread of knowledge. We must have: • Physical and digital platforms must be implemented across and beyond the public sector, that: • embed innovation hubs with feedback loops • utilise digital agenda and social media to share information • ensure there is open access to networks within the public sector • ensure vertical and horizontal process are in place to facilitate sharing of information • provide the space for networks to grow • encourage conversations and dialogue to disseminate ideas • provide opportunities to actively share knowledge and reflect on lessons learned Platforms that support scaling up Must be owned by the whole sector and interested parties • The power of collaboration to facilitate scaling up must be highlighted, with the platforms providing opportunities to: • collaborate and co-produce in the policy design, implementation, and delivery process • facilitate trust between the sectors • horizon scan, and build links to proactively seek out and implement new ideas • enable critical challenge within a safe space • provide peer to peer advice, learning and support • host dissemination and learning events Collaboration to facilitate scaling up • As part of this, emphasis must be placed on active learning, which can, and must: • enable real time learning for visible progress to be demonstrated • discard case studies that have an inherent bias toward success • encourage self learning knowledge management • be clear that it is as vital to learn from failure, as it is from success Active Learning
3. Design The fourth element in this process is to ensure that the public sector focuses on appraisal and evaluation of innovative ideas to provide the business case for scaling, to ensure the right ideas are implemented and driven forward. • In identifying solutions to policy challenges commissioners and innovators must be encouraged to: • develop a scalable business model with clear strategy for implementation • have a strong narrative about what works (with evidence) to interest and motivate partners • address a clear need and fill a gap within the public service market • understand where the gaps in the market are to adopt an idea • demonstrate the value, social return and positive outcomes of innovative ideas for users We must have: A scalable business model • Prototyping is essential in gathering the critical evidence that demonstrates a business case, and innovators must: • prototype innovative models – test it, prove it, grow it, adopt it • plan intention to upscale when designing prototype of the original ideas • gather the evidence that demonstrates successful outcomes • learn lessons from failures and successes Must be driven by commissioners and innovators Prototyping • Evidence must also be embedded into our policy making processes, by encouraging others to: • take forward more evidence based policy making that is future focused • redefine success in policy to focus on outcomes (rather than outputs) • horizon scan to improve robustness of future policy decisions • have a long term policy strategy that focuses on scalability of design and implementation • use better evaluation of what else it out there to adopt or adapt • take forward open source policy making and crowdsource ideas • learn lessons and understand what works, what hasn’t, and why not Scaling up embedded into policy-making
In designing our recommendations, we considered the need to both facilitate scaling up from the centre and find ways to provide dynamic support at the point where scaling up is happening CORPORATE INTERVENTIONS AT THE CENTRE to co-ordinate support and drive culture change INTERMEDIARIES Support and guidance to innovators who have ideas with potential to scale up INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM ANY LOCATION OR ORGANISATION A change is needed at a range of levels: central, local, individual
Here are our nine key recommendations in more detail. The first two concern central support for innovators. For each of the recommendations below, we set out what should be done, by whom and when. Where we can, we also link to the work done by the team to test or start acting on the recommendations and set out the longer term improvement we expect to be the result of acting on the recommendation. • Central co- • ordination Government should consider the merit of drawing together a small central resource to co-ordinate support for the scaling up activity needed to bring about the required organisational and cultural change at the centre. This streamlining will simplify overall co-ordination of support while allowing for individual differences in approach. This should also include linking in to the Open Public Services White Paper recommendations on common evaluation. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result BIS / DCLG 2011 Not tested It will be clearer where to get support for those with good ideas to both assess the potential to scale and how best to do so. As scaling up becomes the norm, it becomes natural to embed it into policy design and delivery. 2. Expert resource pool Central and local government should work together to establish a programme to facilitate and encourage public sector organisations at all levels to proactively come together to scale up specific innovations or areas of good practice from any source or sector. This should include: finding a way to pull together cross-agency teams to work on specific time-limited scaling projects; establishing Action Learning Sets; developing evaluation to suit different organisational circumstances; and support to make a business case for scaling up. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: BIS / LGID 2011 Project team process is itself an example of running a time-limited scaling project Better and more cross-government working leads to: more effective sharing and application of learning; development of a public sector innovation mindset; a strong evidence base.
Our next three recommendations concern commissioning and funding 3. Outcome-based commissioning Establish an expert learning network in outcome-based commissioning for those working both in policy and practical delivery. This should include talking to Local Authorities and LGID. It will help those involved understand the range of approaches being used and share learning about what works best and in what circumstances. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: DH December 2011 Not tested Clearer commissioning processes and increased accessibility to more potential applicants which in turn will lead to better outcomes. Clear evaluation processes and outcomes. 4a. Portfolio Funding: develop Design a model for portfolio management of resources whereby a number of ideas are funded in parallel and funding from those that fail can be diverted to those that succeed. This allows innovators to ‘test it, prove it, grow it and adopt it’. Test the model with practitioners both within DH structures and with a range of Local Authorities. Who implements: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result Proposed timescale: DH National Innovation Fund Model developed: Sept 2011 Testing starts: Jan 2012 Team identified potential attendees for a co-design session but were not able to complete in time. Fear of failure and risk are reduced so more people are more likely to scale up more good ideas. 4b. Portfolio funding: adopt Adopt learning from the testing at recommendation 4 and implement the model Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result (TBC) 2012 Not tested Risk is reduced by application to the most suitable kind of resource funding
We also have recommendations about making best use of tools, frameworks and individual support 5. Scaling up framework Explore whether the tested model / process for scaling up digital innovation can be applied more widely and apply it. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: DCLG / BIS / LGID December 2011 Digital Scaling Up framework (see Annex J) Innovators ‘new to market’ find it easier to scale up. Can be used in conjunction with mentor or other expert resource 6. Corporate tools Government should use corporate tools (e.g. Include scaling in Business plans and individual objectives); skills development (e.g. Include in CSL Skills Strategy and competency framework); and leadership activity (e.g. Cabinet Secretary champions scaling up in guidance and speeches) to encourage effective scaling up of innovation Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: HMG: CO lead 2011 Talked to Defra about mainstreaming scaling up into Government's crowd-sourcing approach to e.g. prevent regulation that works against scaling up Principles and process of scaling up become embedded in Civil Service culture and policy through senior buy-in, recognition of value of scaling up and better staff engagement 7. Mentor scheme Establish a mentor or buddy scheme for individuals who have an idea they want to scale. The mentor provides one-to-one support to establish that the idea is scalable and what support is needed to make it happen. In turn, those supported are actively developed as change agents by the mentor to support others in the cycle. This requires explicit support from the employing organisation e.g. Allowing time for meetings Areas tested by project team: Who implements: Proposed timescale: How the world will be different as a result: HMG: DCLG lead 2011 Natural Value Ambassadors at Defra are a network of credible change agents who will include a focus on scaling up ideas A virtuous circle of support and active learning ensures a constant stream of developed and scaled ideas to improve public service.
Our final two recommendations will help innovators find ideas or advice on and offer an incentive for scaling up 8. One-stop shop Establish a one-stop online shop for public sector innovators to find out about ideas that could be or have been adopted or adapted elsewhere. This should signpost existing sources of advice (e.g. Business Link, the Innovation Launch Pad and LGID's Community of Practice), be in a searchable format and capture examples of successful scaling up in an interactive way. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: DCLG / BIS December 2011 Identified current platforms and sources of support and have started talks to establish a single platform. Simpler and more consistent means of finding out about ideas and tools that might help individuals scale up and benefit from existing practice. Networks develop to offer additional peer support. 9. Award Add a category to existing Civil Service Awards to incentivise scaling up activity. This will both reward effective scaling up activity and provide an opportunity to articulate the range of ideas that can be successfully scaled in future. It can also be used to help identify a network of Scaling Up Champions or future mentors. Who implements: Proposed timescale: Areas tested by project team: How the world will be different as a result: HMG: BIS with CO lead 2011 Initial conversation with awards team was positive Successful scaling up and the people who do it are recognised and become role models for others which leads to more successful scaling up.
Executive Summary 1 2 Project context, objectives, approach 3 Discover 4 Distil 5 Design 6 Taking this forward 7 Annexes 41
The topic and challenge was a huge one, but in twelve weeks we have made a difference. To make this impact sustainable we need this agenda to be taken on and owned by others 12 Weeks 13 Team Members 9 Recommendations 50+ Interested Parties • We have identified a number of ways of ensuring the learning from this project is taken forward, including through diffusion events: • Civil Service Live Workshop on scaling up innovation (July 2011) • Post-project diffusion event to share recommendations and learning from the project • Share report with the BIS Public Sector Innovation Delivery Group which includes organisations interested in public sector innovation • DCLG Policy Picnic to highlight project findings and what this means for the Civil Service • A blog post on the Public Sector Innovation portal • Project LinkedIn group: taking forward conversations about scaling up • Innovate! Newsletter dedicated edition to scaling up project. • DCLG Executive team meeting item The project has successfully created a space for productive cross-public centre working which has challenged the usual corporate centre paradigm. The collaborative nature of this project has been seen also at client level, as we have delivered jointly to two central government departments. DCLG and BIS are keen to continue this collaborative style of working in future.
Finally, we were challenged to take an innovative approach to this project as individuals, to think about how we could become a network of change agents. By taking this approach, we will be able to implement different ways of working or thinking in our working lives, and be more motivated to share these more widely with our partners. Learning for me has been around the fact that different skills are required for the scaling up of innovation than are required to actually have and promote the idea in the first place – not sure that had really occurred to me before but when I build teams in the future I’ll definitely be taking it into account. Scaling up innovation is a problem shared across government, sectors etc – I am going to use our report to further engage with my department. I am actively considering scaling-up innovation when policy asks and information crosses our paths – (for example, that’s where the thoughts about crowd-sourcing and Natural Value Ambassadors came from) Team members as change agents I have set up a discussion board on the Defra Policy team site – “Spreading Innovative Ideas in Defra – what works for us?” I understand now how important it is to embed this into policy recommendations and solutions I have learned that we as individuals can champion change and make it happen Working on this project has gone a long way to helping us to crack the problem of how local digital innovation can become national. I am going to speak to the policy lead about embedding Scaling Up into our Innovation Fund I have learned that both small + large changes to our organisational culture can make things happen I am more likely to search out ideas from alternative sources I will build more networks across my policy area I‘ll be more likely to speak to people outside the usual suspects when designing policy and strategy I have learned how important it is to prototype ideas I have learned both the challenge and value of actively trying to work innovatively We are planning to feed our findings into the launch of the Knowledge Hub I have learned that scaling up starts with ME and US I am planning to introduce Breakthrough Solutions type projects to my organisation I am more confident about challenging the status quo and representing my views to senior people I am introducing change agent roles into two teams in my organisation
Executive Summary 1 2 Project context, objectives, approach 3 Discover 4 Distil 5 Design 6 Taking this forward 7 Annexes
Annex: contents A Who we are B Literature review list of references C Scaling up model and 3 axes D Workshop list of organisations attended E List of interviewees, the template used in interviews and more examples of what our interviewees told us F Project team testing activity G International case studies H UK examples and case studies J Digital scaling up framework
Who we are ANNEX A The project team was drawn from across central and local government William Barker, DCLG Lisa Cornish, DWP Pauline Crellin, Defra Laura Frascona, BIS Rowan Foster, DWP Ed Knowles, LB Lewisham George Leahy, DH Tanya Oliver, Kent CC Samantha Milton, Home Office Conor Ritchie, Defra Gereint Stoneman, Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Collaboration Becca Taber, DCLG Julie Wootton, GOSE Project management and facilitation: Jo Yvon, Karen Deadfield, Diane Gordon and Tristan Chapman, NSG / Cabinet Office What is the NSG’s Capability Building Programme? The Capability Building Programme uses public sector people to find innovative solutions to public sector problems. It brings together a team of experienced people drawn from across government and the wider public sector to collaborate on a real policy, delivery or corporate challenge. Its unique mix of action-based enquiry, problem-solving, design and learning has a strong focus on the delivery system and the customer. This approach has proven to be a quick and cost effective way of tackling challenges. Capability Building projects not only deliver implementable solutions. In doing so they also enable people to develop expertise and build and test a body of knowledge and practice that can be taken back into their own organisations and be used by wider government. So they fulfil two objectives: developing people; solving problems.
ANNEX B In the discover phase, a literature review of over 25 bodies of work was conducted into scaling up innovation. A full reference list is below. Albury, D. (2005) Fostering Innovation in Public Services. Public Money and Management, 25(1), 51-56. Bergman, N. et al (no date) Bottom-up, social innovation for addressing climate change. University of Oxford., Oxford. Buchanon, D. and Huczynski, A. (2004) Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text. Prentice Hall., Harlow. Bunt, L. and Harris, M. (2010) Mass Localism. NESTA Chesbrough, H. (2003) Open Innovation: the New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Harvard Business School Press, Boston MA. Cordingley, P. and Bell, M. (2007) Transferring Learning and Taking Social Innovation to Scale. www.curee.co.uk. Design Council. (2008) Public Sector Innovation: Can we deliver better public services for less money? Design Council Magazine, 4(virtual discussion) http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/publications/design-council-magazine-issue-4/public-sector-innovation/ Dodgson, M. (2000) The Management of Technological Innovation: and International and Strategic Approach. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Fenwick and Elcocks from Public Money 2005 Fielding, M. et al (2005) Factors Influencing the Transfer of Good Practice. Department for Education and Skills, University of Sussex and Demos. Gray, A. and Broadbent, J. (2005) The State of Public Management – Improvement and Innovation, Editorial. Public Money and Management, 25(1), 7-8. Hartley, J. (2005) Innovation in Governance and Public Services: Past and Present. Public Money and Management, 25(1), 27-34. Hartley, J. and Benington, J. (2006) Copy and Paste, or Graft and Transplant? Knowledge Sharing Through Inter-Organizational Networks. Public Money and Management, 26(2), 101-108. ISOS. (2009) Local Innovation: a short review of how local authorities innovate. Jowell, R. (2003) Trying It Out; the Role of Pilots in Policy-Making: Report of a review of Government Pilots. Government Chief Social Researcher/’s Office and Strategy Unit. Crown London. Kamarck, E. (2004) Government Innovation around the World. Faculty Research Working Papers Series, Harvard University John F Kennedy School of Government. Moore, M. H. (1995) Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. Moorse, R. and Moore, P. (2006) Little acorns taking root: Systemic approaches to good practice transfer within organisations. Morgan, M. (2000) Making Innovation Happen. Kogan Page, London. Mulgan, G. (2006) The Process of Social Innovation. Innovations, Spring, 145-162. Mulgan, G. and Albury, D. (2003) Innovation in the Public Sector. The Strategy Unit. Mulgan, G. and Kohli, J. (2010) Scaling New Heights: How to Spot Small Successes in the Public Sector and Make Them Big, www.americanprogress.org. Murray, R., Caulier-Grice, J. and Mulgan, G. (2010) The Open Book of Social innovation. NESTA/The Young Foundation. Osborne, S. P. and Brown, K. (2005) Managing Change and Innovation in Public Sector Organisations. Routledge, Abingdon. Redway, K. M. (2003) Make it happen! A step-by-step guide from creativity to innovation. Judy Piatkus, London. [1] http://la27eregion.fr
The following model simplifies the innovation process, representing it as linear to highlight the various approaches to scaling up, upon which the literature touches. disseminate diffuse idea test refine implement exchange SCALE development evaluate prototype embed locally share adopt / adapt ANNEX C • Scaling up can be carried out in a number of ways which we have described as fitting along 3 axes most easily summarised by ‘push-pull’, ‘adapt-adopt’ and ‘horizontal/vertical’. • push-pull: an innovation might be conceived of, and tested, in one area, with senior managers or quality standards organisations then promoting its introduction elsewhere: push. Another area might have heard of, or sought out, something being tested and refined elsewhere and be keen to put the same sort of innovation in place locally: pull. • adapt-adopt: another innovation might work in one area and be suited for application in another; for instance, one school might adopt an approach tried in another, making few if any changes. Conversely, one organisation might learn from something tested or used elsewhere and identify a way to adapt it work locally. • horizontal/vertical: horizontal captures to innovations that are required to spread throughout an organisation or similar organisations. Vertical refers to an innovation that is ‘cascaded’ throughout an organisation.
ANNEX D In the discover phase, a workshop was held with discussions organised around the themes of people, processes, resources and organisations. SCALING-UP INNOVATIONS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR/SERVICES An Exploratory Workshop Purpose To explore with a group of experts the best lines for further investigating how scaling-up innovations in the public sector and services can be liberated and be more effective. Ethos This is an interactive workshop using collaborative techniques with a focus on exploration and investigation. The intention of the workshop is to generate creative options for further design work for the latter part of the project. The creativity is generated through the interaction of the participants. Outcomes The key outcomes of the workshop will be a series of options (overlapping/contradictory is fine) on what could make the upscaling of innovations in public services/sectors more embedded, effective and routine. This will include an understanding of what works at what level and in what circumstances. Organisations attended [1] http://la27eregion.fr
ANNEX E In the discover phase, interviews took place with innovators and practitioners to provide insight into the practical opportunities and challenges faced by organisations and individuals attempting to scale up their innovative ideas. A (near) full list of interviewees is below.