Open Social Innovation in Public Administration

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Open Social Innovation formats received a boost to identify and assess societal challenges, as well as to foster creativity and to inspire better policymaking and citizen-centred design of solutions. In the session “Proven Tool or Flash in the Pan? Open Social Innovation in Public Administration” at the Creative Bureaucracy Festival 2021, participants discussed the question to what extent these formats can have a sustainable impact and contribute to the common good. Have public administrations found a new working method to drive change and innovation? And if so, under what conditions and for what objectives are they a suitable instrument?

To answer these questions, the makers and implementers of the hackathon #WirVsVirus and UpdateDeutschland under the auspices of the German Federal Chancellery, the #SmartDevelopmentHack of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission (EC), and the international, digital ideas competition #SolutionsForCities of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community came together. The video of the event is now available here or via the Creative Bureaucracy Youtube channel.