Facing increasingly complex challenges and tight budgets, the public sector needs and seeks to innovate. Changes towards more collaborative ways of working, or developing new approaches from service design to delivery can be found in many administrations. New needs, new agents, new ways of communication and new governance models to avoid bureaucracy and excessive control are high on the public/political agenda.

EIPA in partnership with NESTA, the leading UK independent charity backing innovation, and Design for Europe invite you to this PSI ‘lab’, which will pave the way towards more strategic and systematic approaches to innovation. This will include a combination of theory (presentations), a panel discussion (with representatives from the EC-JRC and the City Council of Barcelona) and two dynamic workshops in which participants will be familiarized and actively apply two different leading practical innovation methodologies – design thinking and innovation strategy approaches – to gain inspiration and tools that can be used for their own national, regional or local contexts.

These interactive workshops will be accompanied by first hand examples of public sector innovation showcased in the European Public Sector Award (EPSA) – the European network of public sector excellence generating valuable know-how and vital results.