DM Taskforce on Public Sector Innovation:

It has been one year since the Deputy Ministers Task Force on Public Sector Innovation received its new mandate from the Clerk of the Privy Council. As Co-Chairs of the Task Force, we want to take stock of our first year and keep you apprised of our important work.

The Task Force’s mandate letter asked that we focus our work in two areas: 1) facilitating core systems transformation, and 2) experimenting with disruptive technologies. To help achieve this mandate, we have the privilege of working with a cohort of 18 talented public servants known as GC Entrepreneurs, who are full members of the Task Force and work on a number of initiatives aligned with our mandate.

In addition, there are two documents that provide public servants encouragement to innovate: a Declaration on Public Sector Innovation, approved by Federal, Provincial and Territorial Clerks and Cabinet Secretaries in November 2017, and Experimentation Direction for Deputy Heads, jointly released by PCO and TBS in December 2016. But encouragement, on its own, has not proven to be enough. Government processes, rules and structures must also support innovation. Here is a snapshot of some of the work we have undertaken over the past year to advance public sector innovation.

Advancing Outcomes-Based Programming Approaches

The use of outcomes-based programming approaches (e.g., challenge-based approaches, pay-for-results initiatives) is a key way for federal departments and agencies to deliver meaningful results to Canadians. The Task Force shaped two distinct strategies for how outcomes-based programming approaches could be pursued:

• the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) Generic Terms and Conditions, and
• the Impact Canada Initiative.

The Generic Terms and Conditions, launched in April 2017, are a pre-approved package of policy exceptions and provisions that enables departments and agencies to deliver their existing programs using innovative approaches. After approximately one year, 14 projects in ten departments have used Generic Ts&Cs (two prizes and challenges, six incentive-based projects, and six micro-funding).

In our first year, we also engaged with a host of the departments and agencies that are advancing innovative, challenge-based approaches through their programs via the Impact Canada Initiative. Some of these challenges originated from Budget 2017, such as the Smart Cities Challenge (led by Infrastructure Canada) and four discreet challenges under Clean Tech Impact (led by Natural Resources Canada).

Health Canada is launching a suite of innovative responses to combat the opioid crisis. For example, the Drug Checking Technology Challenge is designed to improve drug checking technology to allow the community of people who use drugs, and those who support them, to make more informed decisions based on the composition of a drug, and to reduce harm.

A Data Strategy Roadmap for the Government of Canada

Today, data is driving a fundamental shift in how our economy and society function, which, in turn, requires governments to evolve rapidly to keep up. The Task Force helped inform an enabling framework document, A Data Strategy Roadmap for the Government of Canada, which launched on November 23, 2018. Its purpose is to help ensure a coordinated, whole of government approach to how the government can use data more strategically to unlock more value from data and deliver improved outcomes for Canadians.

Taking Stock on Key Policy Issues

Over the year we engaged with experts on some of the key policy issues that drive public sector innovation. For example, we heard from experts inside and outside of government using artificial intelligence (AI) to make their operations as effective and efficient as possible. We examined co-creation and partnership development approaches to understand how governments can engage all sectors of society to leverage resources and expertise to help address complex societal problems. We were also fortunate to hear from world experts in social innovation and social finance, including Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of Nesta, Cliff Prior, CEO of Big Society Capital, and Felipe Almeida, President of Portugal Inovação Social.

From a public sector innovation perspective, we had an in-depth stock take discussion on the experimentation mandate commitment. Four key conclusions surfaced in the course of this discussion:

• while the commitment requires all government programs to experiment, there is no approach to measure and assess progress towards this goal;
• interesting experiments, sometimes with rigorous methodologies, have been undertaken across the federal government to see what works and whether new approaches can produce better outcomes;
• action supporting experimentation is extremely uneven across federal departments and despite the mandate commitment, real and rigorous experimentation is not yet embedded across the federal government; and
• in many cases, departments have not publicly addressed experimentation in their departmental plans nor committed funds against this commitment.

We have asked the ADM Experimentation Committee to undertake some medium term planning and come back to the Task Force with advice to accelerate, deepen and institutionalize experimentation across the federal government.

Building the Capacity of the Public Service

The creation of the GC Entrepreneurs themselves is an example of important efforts to upskill the federal public service and build the capacity required to support experimental programming. Working in small, diverse teams across departmental lines, the GC Entrepreneurs are experimenting with new ways of advancing projects that do not have a natural home within a specific department or agency. Their role as ambassadors for innovation is raising awareness and inspiring public servants to apply new tools and approaches to their work. As an added benefit, the GC Entrepreneurs receive leadership training and support from Nesta’s States of Change, a public sector innovation learning approach designed to strengthen innovation capacity across governments.

Conclusion

While we have made progress over this first year, we are only beginning to unlock the potential of public servants to mainstream innovation in our programs, policies and operations. We look forward to increasing our tempo of progress in the coming year.