Importance of Public Innovation Laboratories

Traditionally, public bodies have not been characterized by their creativity and innovation. This dynamic is starting to change in recent years and one of the reasons for the change is related to public innovation labs.

These entities are part of a state structure but are managed with more open and innovative criteria. As their name indicates, they are laboratories where alternative solutions to the problems of the 21st century are sought.

Its focus can be oriented to a wide range of areas: urban transport, smart cities, citizen participation, quality of public services, etc.

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These organizations are not designed to provide services to citizens or to create wealth directly. On the contrary, they are conceived as a transversal tool that helps to improve the management of public entities.

These laboratories have been launched in some countries around the world, such as Chile, Mexico, Uruguay or Argentina. These are small units, especially dynamic and creative and with a wide autonomy. The human teams that make up them are multidisciplinary and include technical, humanistic, social and environmental profiles. If we think of a laboratory in a large city, the challenges that arise are of

nature very different: reduce pollution, create spaces for coexistence, improve communications, expedite the administrative procedures of citizens, etc.

Basically, public innovation labs are platforms with a triple objective:

1) know the complexity of a reality,

2) identify possible solutions and

3) implement change strategies.

Why should innovation be valued in the public sector?

Citizens tend to agree on something: the bureaucracy is complex and is accompanied by all kinds of obstacles. Innovation labs try to correct this trend and provide new solutions.

A great city must be designed for all citizens. For this to be possible, there must be a universal design where architectural barriers do not impede the free movement of people.

The public realm is like a ecosystem in which each of the actors that form it depends on the others and, consequently, it is necessary to think globally to face the new challenges.

The aforementioned examples illustrate the challenges faced by these public entities. They set out a general objective: to work with citizens to improve the quality of life for all.

Images: Fotolia – Fandijki, rCarner