Armenia’s very first Public Sector Innovation Week (#PSIWeek) will take place from 30 January – 6 February. Through a series of platforms and events, we’ll be thinking and talking about what public sector innovation is and how we can achieve it.

The week will kick-off Kolba Lab’s new project, “Inno4Dev”. This is a high-impact initiative supported by the European Union and implemented by UNDP’s Kolba Innovations Lab. This week is intended to shine a light on the progress being made within Government in reforming and modernizing the public sector, and to discuss how this trend can be continued and expanded into the future.

Throughout the week we will have several occasions to meet and share ideas:

This inaugural event will serve as a marketplace of ideas from the government, active citizens and the development sector. Several speakers from across government and the development world will come together to offer their thoughts on topics in governance, traditions, ethics, education, philosophy and arts. You can find out more here.

  • Launch of Inno4Dev: Innovation for Development in Armenia (2 February)

A public launch event will be held introducing “Inno4Dev” project, an initiative of UNDP’s Innovations Lab, funded by the European Union. Opening remarks by high-level officials from UNDP, EU and Government, and an interactive presentation will spread light about the “Innovation for Development” (#Inno4Dev) for the media and invited guests.

Inno4Dev will be active in Armenia for two years, during which time Kolba Innovations Lab will hold idea incubation cycles for citizens and public servants, customized public awareness campaigns and actively engage with public sector.

UK-based public sector innovation consultancy group, FutureGov will deliver a public talk on Public Sector Innovation, in the trademark “Kolba Café” format. Kolba Cafes are intended to provide a platform for citizens, developments practitioners, and government officials to interact, exchange ideas and discuss a range of development challenges and solutions and work towards building a shared development agenda. Everyone is welcome to join.

  • Workshop for Government innovators (6 February)

FutureGov will also be delivering a comprehensive “hands-on” workshop targeting innovators within government. Activities will include using collaborative design processes and applying ethnographic design research; analysis of insights, communicating and interacting with users; development of ideas, prototyping and testing with service users to a real life problem the government is trying to tackle.

This is a closed event with limited space. If you are interested in participating, please contact Kolba Lab’s team at idea@kolba.am.