Abi Murcott
In our fast changing world we're hearing of new use cases and developments in AI and other technology every single day. Innovation is essential for businesses to survive. In the public sector, citizens increasingly expect government services to match the seamless digital experiences offered by leading companies and when those expectations fall short, public trust declines.
The Prime Minister noted that achieving the five missions of his government will demand relentless focus and prioritization, and so innovation and transforming the way government services operate will be vital in light of a tight spending review outcome. It is these economic pressures and complex, cross-cutting challenges spanning geopolitics, climate and technology shifts which now demand new innovative thinking and smarter delivery models.
Adedotun Adesina
So how do departments go beyond pilots and post-its to enable innovation as a true capability to continuously optimize outcomes? We believe that there are four foundational pillars. Innovation needs a structured approach that's repeatable and designed to scale what works from idea generation to implementation. A well defined the approach needs to bring together department leaders, policymakers and public stakeholders to identify problems, shape use cases, and experiment.
The public sector must be willing to adopt new approaches to radically rethink existing processes and trial new technology, whilst balancing risk. Innovation requires investments and investment decisions need confidence in the value and the impact to be delivered by innovation initiatives.
Governance frameworks for innovation initiatives must balance rigor with agility so that great ideas don't get stuck in endless review cycles, but instead move quickly when the value is clear.
Innovation governance should not just be focused on large technology changes, but should also enable those opportunities that may have low associated risks, but higher likelihood of delivering return on investment rapidly.
Value realised from these smaller innovation opportunities can then be used to invest in larger, more risky opportunities.
We believe the pursuit of innovation should start with leaders setting the innovation agenda, acting as cultural carriers, and empowering individuals to think, innovatively, experiment and accept the possibility of failure.
Oliver Jones
Departments need clarity on how innovation fits into delivery. Who owns it, who funds it, how to be resourced, and the path to scaling winning concepts.
It must be fully embedded into the op model, including in the alignment of incentives and continuous improvement. Without that, innovation remains a side project rather than a strategic engine.
Perhaps most importantly, innovation demands a cultural shift towards curiosity, openness and collaboration. Encouraging teams to experiment, learn fast and work across silos is critical, while also using KPIs to measure uptake and scale the best solutions quickly. Balancing the need to maintain continuity whilst finding space for innovation requires large organizations to adopt some startup like ways of tackling complex challenges.
We've seen this work in the UK - The Department for educations EdTech strategy empowered schools to test digital solutions during Covid, with long term gains. Overseas countries like Estonia and Singapore have built innovation directly into the DNA of their public sectors.
And in the private sector. We are working with leading firms across financial services, utilities and telco, continuously to invest in proof of concepts, to explore new technologies and reinvent themselves to stay ahead.
Abi Murcott
At Baringa, we help government departments define and embed innovation strategies that align with their missions and drive real outcomes, better services, more efficient operations, and lasting cultural change for continuous innovation.
Embedding innovation isn't about chasing the next shiny thing. It's about building the ability to safely experiment and adapt, solve problems to citizens, and deliver better life outcomes for people.
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