Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 25th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Main Conference Theme Author(s) Piret Tonurist Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn Estonia Title From Incremental to Transformative Change: Using Systems Approaches in Public Sector Innovation Governance File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Piret Tonurist Abstract Governments are increasingly faced with complex challenges, wicked problems that require systemic interventions and innovative, reflexive solutions. However, it is difficult to re-design policies in their entirety – introduce transformative innovations – especially in cases where service reliability is key. In many cases problems are contextual and stuck in institutional path-dependencies. Recently there has been a call to use systems approaches in the public sector to tackle these challenges. This paper explores the nature of systems approaches (from systems thinking to design thinking) and their applicability in the public sector. Four exploratory case studies around the world are used to analyze the emerging practice of systems approaches in the public sector. To gather the information desk research, process tracing and semi-structured interviews were deployed. Through the cases, drivers and barriers of using systems approaches in the public sector are identified. The empirical work of this paper is prepared within the Horizon 2020 Work Program “Europe in a Challenging World” under project number: 671526 – OPSI.
