EnhancingPublicInnovationbyTransformingPublic Governance Risingandchangingcitizenexpectations,direfiscalconstraints,unfulfilled politicalaspirations,highprofessionalambitionsandagrowingnumberof stubborn societal problems have generated an increasing demand for innovationofpublicpoliciesandservices.Drawingonthelatestresearch, this book examines how current systems of public governance can be transformed in order to enhance public innovation. It scrutinizes the needfornewrolesandpublicsectorreformsandanalyseshowthegradual transitiontowardsNewPublicGovernancecanstimulatetheexploration andexploitationofnewandboldideasinthepublicsector.Itarguesthat thekeytopublicinnovationliesincombiningandbalancingelementsfrom ClassicPublicAdministration,NewPublicManagementandNewPublic Governance,andtheorizeshowitcanbeenhancedbymulti-actorcolla- borationforthebenefitofpublicofficials,privatestakeholders,citizensand societyatlarge. Jacob Torfing is Professor of Politics and Institutions at Roskilde University. He is also Research Director of the Roskilde School of Governance.Hisresearchinterestsincludenetworkgovernance,public administration reforms, public innovation and public leadership and management.Hehaspublishedmorethan200articlesandbookchapters andmorethan25books.HeistheauthorofCollaborativeInnovationinthe PublicSector(2016). Peter Triantafillou is Professor in Public Policy and Performance Management at Roskilde University. His research interests are with governance and power relations in public policy and performance managementinthepublicsector.Hisresearchhasbeenpublishedin numerousacademicarticles,editedvolumesandthemonographNew FormsofGoverning:AFoucauldianInspiredAnalysis(2012). Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, on 17 Jul 2017 at 13:29:48, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, on 17 Jul 2017 at 13:29:48, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337 Enhancing Public Innovation by Transforming Public Governance Jacob Torfing RoskildeUniversity,Denmark Peter Triantafillou RoskildeUniversity,Denmark Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, on 17 Jul 2017 at 13:29:48, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337 UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107088986 ©JacobTorfingandPeterTriantafillou2016 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2016 AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Torfing,Jacob,editor.|Triantafillou,Peter,editor. Enhancingpublicinnovationbytransformingpublicgovernance/editedby JacobTorfing,RoskildeUniversity,DenmarkandPeterTriantafillou, RoskildeUniversity,Denmark. Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress, 2016.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex LCCN2016018125|ISBN9781107088986 LCSH:Organizationalchange.|Organizationaleffectiveness.|Public administration.|Administrativeagencies–Management. LCCJF1525.O73E652016|DDC352.3/67–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2016018125 ISBN978-1-107-08898-6Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, on 17 Jul 2017 at 13:29:48, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337 Contents Listoffigures pagevii Listoftables viii Listofcontributors ix 1 EnhancingPublicInnovationbyTransformingPublic Governance? jacob torfing and peter triantafillou 1 PartI:LinkingGovernanceandInnovation 33 2 CollaborativeGovernanceasCreativeProblem-Solving christopher k. ansell 35 3 TheNewPublicGovernanceandInnovationinPublic Services:APublicService-DominantApproach stephen p. osborne and zoe radnor 54 4 PublicInnovationsaroundtheWorld jacob torfing and peter triantafillou 71 5 OrganizationalandGovernanceAspectsofDiffusing PublicInnovation jean hartley 95 PartII:ChangingRolesofPublicandPrivateActors 115 6 CollaborativeInnovationinthePublicSector eva so=rensen and jacob torfing 117 7 PublicManagersandProfessionalsinCollaborative Innovation victor bekkers and mirko noordegraaf 139 v Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, on 17 Jul 2017 at 13:26:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337 vi Contents 8 BringingtheResourcesofCitizensintoPublic Governance:InnovationthroughCo-productionto ImprovePublicServicesandOutcomes tony bovaird and elke loeffler 160 9 TheRoleofElectedPoliticiansinCollaborativePolicy Innovation eva so=rensen 178 10 TheRoleofPrivateActorsinPublicSectorInnovation ole helby petersen, veiko lember, walter scherrer and robert ågren 197 PartIII:TransformingGovernancetoEnhanceInnovation 215 11 PublicInnovationandOrganizationalStructure: Searching(inVain)fortheOptimalDesign mads leth felsager jakobsen and claus thrane 217 12 CanCommandandIncentiveSystemsEnhance MotivationandPublicInnovation? lotte bo=gh andersen 237 13 AdministrativeLeadershipforInnovation montgomery van wart 256 14 ThinkingAllowed:ReformingIndicator-Based AccountabilitytoEnhanceInnovation wouter van dooren and tom willems 273 15 OrganizationalInnovationsandMultipleFormsof AccountabilityinthePost-NewPublicManagementEra tom christensen and per lægreid 290 16 CanPublicGovernanceBeChangedtoEnhance Innovation? b. guy peters 310 17 Conclusion:GoverningInnovationandInnovating Governance jacob torfing and peter triantafillou 325 Index 340 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, on 17 Jul 2017 at 13:26:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337 1 Enhancing Public Innovation by Transforming Public Governance? Jacob Torfing and Peter Triantafillou 1.1 Introduction Innovation has recently moved to the top of the agenda in many public sectorsaroundtheworld.Innovationmayberegardedasamagicconcept with astrongnormativeconnotation (Pollittand Hupe2011).Thus, the innovation discourse in policy circles implicitly assumes that innovation equals improvement and that it is good to be a frontrunner, bad to be a laggard and even worse to forego the chance of innovating. You do not wanttofallbehindwhenitcomestoinnovationsinceitpreventsyoufrom saving money and delivering better results. A lot of high hopes and pro- misesareascribedtothenotionof‘innovation’,whichisoftenconsidered as a silver bullet that can solve societal problems by producing new and smartsolutions.Notsurprisingly,thecurrentquestforinnovationissome- timescriticizedforpromisingmorethanitdelivers.However,theinterest- ing thing aboutinnovationisthat ithas the potential for delivering more thanitpromisesbecauseitispotentiallyacreativeprocessthatopensupfor and embraces the emergence of the otherwise possible. Innovation often sends its participants to an uncharted territory where solutions are often encounteredandresultsachievedthatwecouldnotevendreamofbecause theyareunknownorunthoughtof.Innovationisaheuristicandpragmatic searchforandrealizationofnewandemergingsolutionsthatdisruptthe currentwaysofthinkinganddoingthingsand,atleastpotentially,giveus morethanwehopedfor.Itisthispotentialitythatforbetterorworsehas turnedinnovationintoamagicconcept. Today,innovationchallengesthenarrowfocusonadministrativeratio- nalization as the top priority of public organizations and public leaders. Political challenges such as demographic changes, increasing public health expenditure, unmet social demands, a growing number of wicked problems and the presence of numerous policy deadlocks cannot be solvedbysimplycuttingpublicexpendituresandmakingthepublicsector ThecorrespondingauthorforthischapterisJacobTorfing. 1 Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 11 Dec 2016 at 07:10:06, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337.001 2 JacobTorfingandPeterTriantafillou leaner.After30yearsofcost-savingrationalizationefforts,suchasprivati- zation, contracting out public services and eliminating slack in public serviceorganizations,weneedtoraiseourambitionsbyseekingtocreate moreandbetterpublicsolutionsforthesameorlessmoney,andinnova- tionmightbethetoolforachievingexactlythis. At first, the growing interest in public innovation primarily led to symbolic changes. From the 1990s onwards innovation was added to the long list of strategic goals in public organizations. External experts andconsultantswerehiredtostimulateinnovation,specialdevelopment andinnovationunitswereestablishedandsomecountriessawthecrea- tion of national innovation labs such as the American OPM Innovation Lab, the British NESTA, the Danish MindLab and the Mexican Laboratorio para la Ciudad. Later, the strategic and symbolic embrace ofthepublicinnovationagendahasbeenfollowedbymorepracticaland operational attempts to spur innovation by means of training public managers and employees and by encouraging them to develop and test new ideas in practice. To support this endeavour, we have seen the developmentofnewmethodsfor howtouncoveruserdemands,stimu- lateknowledgeexchange,generateinnovativeideas,testprototypesand managetherisksassociatedwithinnovation.Insomecountriesthenew design thinking has played a key role in developing new methods for stimulatinginnovation(Bason2010).Gradually,thestrategicandprac- ticaleffortstospurpublicinnovationhavecometofruition.Animportant indicationisthatnationalinnovationawardschemesreceiveanincreasing numberofapplications,andarecentstudyoftheAmericanGovernment Innovation Award programme shows that the innovation agenda has expanded in every policy area from 1994 to 2010 (Borins 2014). Another indicator is the growing number of surveys and measurement programmes that report an increasing number of public innovations (Arundel and Hollanders 2008; Arundel and Smith 2013; Kattel et al. 2014).Onerecentsurveyshowsthattwo-thirdsofpublicadministration institutions at the EU level have introduced a new or significantly improved service in the last three years. Conversely, only 4 per cent of the public managers who participated in the survey reported that no positiveeffecthadresultedfromtheinnovationthathadbeenimplemen- ted(EuropeanCommission2011). Innovation strategies and activities seem to be growing rapidly in the publicsector.Yetpublicinnovationcontinuestoberatherepisodicandis often triggered by accidental events such as economic crises and large- scalebudgetcuts,scientificortechnicalbreakthroughs,accesstospecial purposefunding,publiccriticismandnegativeevaluations,etc.Thereis stillquitesomewaytogobeforepublicinnovationbecomesapermanent Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 11 Dec 2016 at 07:10:06, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337.001 EnhancingPublicInnovationbyTransformingPublicGovernance? 3 Context Governance Innovation Outcomes Figure1.1 Theconnectionbetweengovernance,innovationandpublic sectoroutcomes and systematic activity pervading all aspects and levels of government. Thekeyquestiontodaythenis:Howcanwetransformtheinstitutional structure, the organizational designs and cultures, the steering systems, themanagementpracticesandmoregenerallytheentiresystemofpublic governanceinordertofurtherstimulateandenhancetheproductionof innovative solutions to both deep-seated and emerging problems? This bookisdevotedtoansweringthispertinentquestion. Theoverarchingideaofthiseditedvolumeisthatthewayweshapethe institutionalformsofgovernanceinthepublicsectoraffectsitscapacity for innovation. If we transform public governance in the right ways, publicinnovationmaybeboostedtothebenefitofusers,citizens,public employees,privatestakeholdersandsocietyatlarge.Howthesystemof public governance is reformed obviously depends on the context and variesbetweencountries,levelsandpolicyareas.Accordingly,webelieve that context-sensitive governance reforms that change and adjust the balancebetweendifferentgovernanceparadigmswillspurtheproduction ofpublicinnovationandbringaboutnewsolutionsthatwilloutperform the existing ones. The analytical model informing our study of the link betweengovernanceandinnovationisdepictedinFigure1.1. Figure1.1indicatesthatthepolitical,socio-economicandadministra- tivecontextwillaffecttheformsandcontentofgovernancereform,which in turn will help to spur innovation that may lead to better outcomes. Thesearethecausalitiesthatarefurtherexploredinthisvolume. So far there have been few attempts to reflect on how the system of public governance affects the ability to innovate (see Eggers and Singh 2009;Hartley,SørensenandTorfing2013;AnsellandTorfing2014).As aresulttheburgeoningliteratureonpublicgovernanceandtheexpanding field of public innovation research remain largely unrelated. This book aimstoclosethisgapinpublicmanagementresearchanddrawtogether these two strands of research by focusing on the attempts to transform governance in order to enhance innovation. Our hypothesis is that a further strengthening of governance practices associated with New Public Governance may help to further enhance public innovation. However, the existing governance paradigms (in terms of Classical Public Administration and New Public Management) are likely to Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 11 Dec 2016 at 07:10:06, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337.001 4 JacobTorfingandPeterTriantafillou continue playing an important rolein the public sector.Moreover, they contain indispensable drivers of public innovation that in some cases mighthelptocompensatesomeoftheinherentproblemsinthegovern- ancepracticesassociatedwithNewPublicGovernance.Hence,thegen- eralargumentpursuedinthisbookisnotthatweareseeingorevenneeda wholesale transitionto New PublicGovernance. Rather weare likelyto seetheadditionofanewparadigmaticlayerofgovernanceontopofthe existing ones that in some areas will continue to be predominant and contain important drivers of innovation. However, since New Public Governance is ‘the new kid on the block’ and tends to focus explicitly oninnovation,weareparticularlyinterestedinhowthiswayofthinking aboutpublicgovernancecanstimulatepublicinnovation. With this book we take an important step in creating a scholarly rapprochement between governance and innovation theory. Our goal is bothtocontributetothescholarlydiscussionabouttheeffectofdifferent governanceparadigmsontheinnovationcapacityofpublicorganizations andtoprovidenewinspirationtopractitionerswhoareaimingtoenhance public innovation by rethinking the way that that public sector is orga- nized, governed and managed. Finally, we hope that this book will stir public debates about the future development and reform of the public sector. The stakes in these debates are high as there is much to gain in terms of efficiency, quality, effectiveness and perhaps even democracy from finding new ways of spurring innovation through reflexive and context-sensitivegovernancereforms. Thechapterisstructuredinthefollowingway:Section2explainswhy wearewitnessinganewfocusonpublicinnovation.Section3definesthe conceptofinnovationandreflectsonthekeyfeaturesofinnovationinthe public sector. Section 4 defines the notion of governance and analyses how different governance paradigms drive and hamper innovation respectively. Section 5 presents the theoretical framework that informs thestudiespresentedinthisbook.Section6explainsthestructureofthe bookandbrieflyintroducesthechapters. 1.2 ANewFocusonPublicInnovation For more than a century innovation has been considered as the main source of economic growth and profitability in the private sector. AccordingtothepioneeringworksofSchumpeter(1934),innovationis driven by cutthroat competition between private companies and pro- pelledbyindividualentrepreneursandlarge-scaleresearchanddevelop- ment departments. When it comes to the public sector, the lack of competition and entrepreneurship seems to have nurtured the belief Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 11 Dec 2016 at 07:10:06, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316105337.001