This course draws on advances in social science and public administration to introduce you to tools and approaches for understanding and leading innovation in the public sector. The course will focus on how public executives carry out the mission of their agencies in ways that are creative, effective and efficient. Although the popular conception is that the private sector is innovative and the public sector is routine and bureaucratic, we will discuss why, when and how innovation occurs frequently in the public sector, and how you can contribute to that.
Our primary interest will be in making innovation happen. Terrific ideas that are not translated into action cannot improve outcomes or serve the public interest.
Innovation in the public sector comes in many forms. Technology is one of those forms, but not the only kind. We will discuss a variety of ways to use innovation to improve the performance of government and get better outcomes for citizens. We will explore more effective ways to implement policy or deliver services, implementing higher quality services and higher impact programs, developing constructive partnerships to improve performance, mobilizing support to spread innovative ideas from one location to multiple sites.
We'll use examples, research, and cases from local, state, and federal government in the US and also from around the world.
