What do Wayne Gretzky and the OECD have in Common? Reflections on an OECD Conference

I was fortunate to participate in a recent conference put on by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (better known as the OECD) on innovation in government. The theme of the conference was innovation as being the “new normal” within the public sector — moving towards the idea of mainstreaming and away from the idea of public sector innovation as “niche” or “boutique”.

What was remarkable to me was the degree of convergence around a set of ideas from governments around the world (over 500 people attended and more than 50 countries were represented). In general, governments are looking for:

• More innovative approaches to respond to citizens’ expectations to get better outcomes from public programs and services;
• To adapt to shifting technological landscapes; and
• To build shared value partnerships with a range of stakeholders in the private, philanthropic, and not-for-profit sectors to solve our greatest societal challenges — like ending poverty and promoting inclusive economic growth.

Reflecting on these broader themes, I spoke on a panel called “The Experimental State” with Ira Alanko from Finland and Shatha Al Hashmi from the United Arab Emirates. At the beginning of the panel, El-Iza Mohamedou, the moderator, asked the audience whether they would participate in a government-sponsored experiment. 100% of people initially said that they wouldn’t. By the end of the session, 100% said they would — a convincing panel if I ever saw one!

I spoke about Canada’s overall approach to public sector innovation and experimentation — that innovation is not just about doing something new for its own sake — rather, innovation is about using new evidence, technologies, or approaches to improve outcomes for the public; and experimentation is about testing these innovations in a way that allows us to determine whether they produce the results we expect.

In answering a question about the inherent risks of experimental approaches — the immortal words of Wayne Gretzky came to mind — that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. We would be at greater risk of failing to meet the challenges of our time if we were not taking some chances, not trying to make things better, and not evaluating what we’re doing in a rigorous way to invest in what works.

As a final reflection, I came away with an impression that the Government of Canada is moving along the right track — we have quietly taken a place among the best countries in this space, a case we would have been hard pressed to make even two years ago. And I’m proud to work with the Impact and Innovation Unit with a group of public servants who are helping to make this shift happen one project and one initiative at a time.