Open Innovation and Value Creation
A project for the Greater London Authority (GLA).
The Greater London Authority (GLA) has embraced open innovation and design-thinking approaches to drive experimentation and collaboration in policy making. Last year, we worked with researchers from University College London (UCL) and acted as a learning partner for the GLA’s open innovation programmes.
We took the Economic Development Team through a guided process of learning. Reflecting on their previous Open Innovation programmes, aligning on our understanding of its capabilities in value creation and identifying that there is a gap in the way innovation itself is being communicated amongst policymakers.
This led us to co-create a set of conversation cards aimed at supporting policymaking teams. We took a participatory action research approach, which involved stakeholder interviews, workshop observations, and leveraged insights from previous open innovation initiatives.
The project team developed a versatile (conversation) tool to facilitate discussions around innovation, experimentation, and value creation in policy development.
The key takeaways from this work were:
Learnings from an open innovation approach: The project aimed to support the GLA's efforts to use open innovation and design-thinking approaches for policy making and creating value. We found that this way of working allows teams to look beyond their silos, engage external capabilities, and stimulate innovators to help address market failures.
Enabling experimentation: We wanted these cards to compliment the existing experimentation that took place in the workshops the team delivered with their teams. The conversation cards could help support teams navigate complex problem-solving issues through careful prompts and also encourage new conversations about the 'why' and 'how' of policy making.
Prototype and testing: A prototype of the conversation cards was created and tested with policymakers working on the early stages of scoping a programme. This helped to understand which cards worked well or needed improvement.
Flexible usage: The final conversation cards are designed to support various conversations at different stages of project development, from conception to delivery. Teams can decide how best to use the cards based on their specific needs and project phase.
Collaborative research: The project involved collaborative research between UCL and the GLA, including mapping out previous challenge programmes, stakeholder interviews with the Economic Development Team, observation of workshops with policymakers, and revisiting insights from our earlier work on values in collaborative civic innovation.
Wider utility: While the cards were primarily designed for the GLA and its partners, the team hopes they will have wider utility for other organisations working on open innovation and policy experimentation.
In summary, the project leveraged collaborative research and iterative development to create a practical tool (conversation cards) to support the GLA's efforts in promoting open innovation, experimentation, and value creation in policy making.
The final set can be found here. Designed by our own Rodayna Abdelaziz.
Credits and further information
This project was delivered by researchers and practitioners based with the Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health (CUSSH) Project at UCL, the Economic Development Team at the Greater London Authority, and from OURI Labs.
We are grateful to colleagues at UCL CUSSH and the GLA who participated in this project, and to our Advisory Group Members.
This project was kindly supported by UCL Public Policy and EPSRC IAA funding.