Kick-off meeting in Copenhagen was a great success
Participants from 11 different countries took part in the kick-off meeting for the co-creation of a Copenhagen Manual.
By Paul Sauer – Published 3/12-2019
"If anyone had told me four years ago, that we would be so many people gathered today - I would not have believed them."
Those were the words of Pia Gjellerup, director of COI, when she welcomed the participants to the kick-off meeting for co-creation of the Copenhagen Manual – a user oriented guide and new international standard for measuring and developing public sector innovation.
So far 18 countries have joined the co-creation of the Copenhagen Manual. 11 of the countries were represented at the kick-off meeting on the 28th November in Copenhagen.
A growing demand
The Innovation Barometer was the world’s first statistic on public sector innovation, when COI together with Statistics Denmark published it for the first time four years ago.
Since then, all Nordic countries have copied the Innovation Barometer, and the increasing demand for the Nordic experiences and know-how have triggered a need for creating the Copenhagen Manual.
At the kick-off meeting, the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland) started by sharing their experiences of making the Innovation Barometer – and how they have used the statistics.
Debunking myths and instilling pride
"For instance, the Innovation Barometer has helped us identifying our organizational activities – how can we help building innovative capacity in the public sector? We have also used it to debunk myths and instill pride in the public sector," says Une Tange, senior advisor at KS, the Norwegian municipality organization, who were first to copy the Danish Innovation Barometer.
Klas Danerlöv, innovation coordinator at the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, followed:
"The Innovation Barometer allows us to leave the anecdotal arguments behind and provide statistical facts instead. This is of great importance at the national level. At the regional level, our members use the data and statistics to construct arguments for strategy making or to determine how to work with public sector innovation," he says.
Wales, Portugal, and Canada
Klas Danerlöv also emphasized the importance of the fact, that the Innovation Barometer is based on data collected from all types of public workplaces – nursing home, kindergarten, police stations – and not only central units.
The kick-off meeting in Copenhagen offered the participants the opportunity to share experiences and their different interests for making an Innovation Barometer.
Picture: At the kick-off meeting in Copenhagen the participants discussed how to communicate the results of an Innovation Barometer most effectively. Here facilitated by senior consultant, Lene Krogh Jeppesen.
Among others, Y-lab and Nesta in Wales have showed interest in making their own Innovation Barometer, and the DACH region (Comprises the countries Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) have already made a test of what they call 'Innovationskompass'. The additional participants include among others LabX in Portugal and Global Affairs Canada who, just like OECD and EU Commission, have chosen to join the co-creation process.
Incredibly useful and rewarding
The ambition is to use the inputs from the kick-off meetings' workshops and debates in the continued co-creation of the Copenhagen Manual.
Ole Bech Lykkebo, Head of Analysis at COI, is very pleased with the turnout and the day:
"It was an incredible lively and engaged group of people, who were strikingly dedicated to some very technical details and at the same time managed to present strong national perspectives. The participants provided insights and experiences with a great scope, which I believe will be extremely useful and rewarding for the manual. Many good ideas for the presentation and communication of the manual were also shared with us. I couldn’t have imagined a better start for the project," he says.
Positive implications for many
Ole Bech Lykkebo thinks that the interest for the kick-off meeting is very promising for the continued work with the Copenhagen Manual:
"The number of participants has now reached more than 50 people from 18 countries, and this development has more or less happened within 3-4 weeks. We strongly believed the project would take off, yet this acceleration came as a pleasant surprise. Now I actually think that even more people will join us - and help us produce a manual even more universally applicable."
The Copenhagen Manual is a part of the project 'New Nordic Solutions'. COI receives funding from The Nordic Council of Ministers to carry out the project.
ABOUT THE COPENHAGEN MANUAL
- Copenhagen Manual is a user-oriented guide and new international standard for measuring and developing public sector innovation.
- Increasing international demand for the Nordic experiences with the Innovation Barometer has initiated the co-creation of the Copenhagen Manual
- The Innovation Barometer was the first of its kind worldwide, when COI and Statistics Denmark published it for the first time in 2015.
- Since 2015, all Nordic countries have copied the Innovation Barometer and made their own versions.
- Copenhagen Manual is a part of the project ‘New Nordic Solutions’, which COI receives funding from The Nordic Council of Ministers to carry out.
- Up until now 18 countries have joined the co-creation of the Copenhagen Manual. The manual will ready by the end of 2020.