[Originally published on the Australian Government Public Sector Innovation Network under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY AU licence]
As mentioned by Patricia Kelly in her last post on the outcomes of the APS 200 project on public sector innovation, one of the outcomes of the project is the APS Innovation Action Plan.
The aim of the Innovation Action Plan is to capture some of the concrete initiatives being taken to support innovation in the APS and to demonstrate the commitment of the APS to innovation.
The Plan will be launched on June 29 to members of the APS 200 (the 200 most senior public servants of the APS). The APS 200 are obviously an important part of the audience for the Action Plan, but we also hope to spread the message across the rest of the APS. We are looking at some other open events, however it is likely these will only touch a small percentage of APS staff – we will need help in spreading the message.
We would encourage you to begin this process by discussing ideas at your workplace about how you might mark the finalisation of the project and the release of this high level endorsement of innovation by the leaders of the APS.
Now we don’t expect that all agencies will be able to follow the example of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry just yet. The event needn’t have to be big – it might simply be a matter of you and your colleagues having a discussion about innovation and what could be done to help bring new and creative approaches to the problems you face in your work. Or it could be getting in an external speaker to talk about doing something differently. Or sharing an innovative idea within your agency.
But whatever it is, we think this is a great opportunity for interested public servants to talk about innovation, to ask what it means for their agencies and how it will be supported, and to start identifying the actions that can be taken to integrate innovation with their work.
Do you have some suggestions about the types of events people could easily arrange in their agency to help mark the occasion and spread the innovation message?