This report presents the findings from our pilot project developing a survey tool for measuring innovation in the public sector.

Key findings:

• Innovation in organisations is stifled: the key opportunity to improve it is the conditions in which they operate.
• There are 15 mechanisms to encourage idea-sharing that should be improved.
• The key incentive for organisations to innovate is customer feedback. However the organisations also display a lack of systematic approach to managing innovation.
• Short-termism and restructuring hinder organisations from innovating. Those elements that enable innovation should be recognised and improved where necessary.
• The survey tool should be developed further and made available for use across the public sector.

Innovation in the public sector is a challenging but pressing task, hindered by the lack of available data. The capacity to measure innovation in the public sector is an important development in supporting public sector innovation both in terms of organisational measures and sector performance.

Nesta has taken up the challenge as part of the Innovation Index. This report presents the findings from our pilot project developing a survey tool for measuring innovation in the public sector. The survey was piloted across two parts of the public sector: the NHS and Local Government.

The survey’s early findings provide useful insights in to both how innovation is happening in these parts of the public sector and also the potential for widening the delivery of a public sector innovation survey tool. The report has been prepared to appeal to the broad audience of people responsible for improving the conditions for innovation in the public sector, as well as those leaders of public sector organisations striving to innovate.

Authors:
Alastair Hughes, Kyla Moore and Nimesh Kataria