As part of the “Innovation for Development” project (#Inno4Dev) funded by European Union and implemented by Kolba Innovations Lab, a series of idea competitions took place within the government aimed at innovating across government. These competitions served as a platform and channel for public servants to come up with innovative solutions to optimize working processes, make public services more participatory, and ensure effective feedback and communication mechanisms.

 

Three rounds of these internal idea challenges were organized in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education. Kolba Lab provided methodological and professional support throughout the cycle, including consultations with deputy ministers, heads of departments and mid-level public servants to map priority areas, and conducting “Pop-up Labs” inside government offices, where public servants could come to test and prototype their ideas. The UK’s Public Sector Innovation Consultancy group, Futuregov, provided key support and expertise throughout.

To highlight the achievements of this new governance innovation direction and to reward public servants who came up with new innovative solutions, Armenia’s first Public Sector Innovation Week was established by Kolba Lab in back in 2016.

Public Sector Innovation week consists of a series of offline events and online engagement spots that highlight transformative approaches used in the public sector, raise awareness about the topic and engage experts from different backgrounds to contribute with new “outside” thinking. The week includes both public events and closed professional meetings and discussions

Public Sector Innovation Week in 2018

Public Sector Innovation Week in 2018 will be launched on 30th January. Throughout the week, achievements and progress in governance innovation will be showcased, followed by a panel discussion on the topic of “Startups inside the Governance System” engaging high-level public servants.

During the launch there will also be a Governance Innovation Expo, which will include large project posters describing startup ideas implemented in public sector.

As part of the innovation week, a GovTech panel discussion will be hosted at the UNDP Armenia Conference Hall on 2nd of February.  The panel will include managers from the IT industry, the public sector and civil society. The event is open to anyone interested, and those who would like to contribute to the discussion on how technologies can be used for designing effective public services in Armenia.  More details about the event will be soon published on our social media channels. Stay tuned!