First European Public Sector Innovation Scoreboard published

What are the key results?

The key results show that the public sector in Europe innovates but it faces still a number of obstacles. The involvement of managers and employees makes process innovations in the public sector more likely. The presence of internal barriers to innovation - e.g. lack of management support, staff resistance or risk-averse culture - does not only have a negative effect on innovation but also on the public sector’s effectiveness in general. Ideas from staff, management and clients are the major sources of information used in developing innovations.

Innovation in public administration has positive effects on improved user access to information, improved user satisfaction and faster delivery of services for business and citizens. Improved and innovative administrative solutions in the public service also help to increase competitive and innovative performance of companies. There are still several deficiencies in the public sector, as it could do more to promote innovation through public procurement.

We recommend you have a look at point 6: Public services as a driver of improved firm performance The public sector plays an important role in developed countries by contributing to a substantial share of national GDP. By creating a favourable business climate the public sector can also have a profound impact on the economic and innovative performance of firms. Efficient and high quality public services also act as a driver of business performance. The section estimates the impact of public sector innovation on firm performance. Section 6.1 develops a wider framework for measuring public sector innovation based on government tools and evaluates the existing literature with respect to this framework. Section 6.2 summarizes aggregate findings from the Innobarometer 2011 report (EC, 2012). Section 6.3 uses the Innobarometer 2011 firm-level data to evaluate the impact of public sector innovation testing five hypotheses using different regression techniques.

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