A hub of new ideas

摘要

The National School of Government's Sunningdale Institute has established an innovation hub to develop know-how on stimulating and supporting innovation in government and the public services. The Whitehall Innovation Hub - financed by DIUS, and situated in the National School of Government - aims to help build a new landscape for those who want to reconnect policy and practice through building bridges between innovative players across the system. The purpose of the hub is to present central government with a means to reconnect Whitehall with the wider public sector, and reduce the reliance on 'compliance', which acts as a disincentive to innovative behaviour across the public sector. The hub aims to act as a foal point for public service innovation in Whitehall - evidence shows that while public services are becoming more receptive to innovative solutions, they need more systematic support from government. An anchor for public service innovation is people's experience, and new ways of involving people in problem-solving - it involves a radical shift in relationships between professionals, service-users, practitioners and policy-makers. Public innovation is about tackling social problems by involving people. This means local agencies, social enterprise and local government have a huge part to play in sustaining more innovative practice by becoming more receptive to new ideas from frontline staff and from outside their own organisations.