The coordinator of the Observatory for Innovation in the Public Sector within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Marco Daglio, present on Tuesday in Bucharest, said that steps are being taken with the Government to implement the innovation laboratory, stressing that the Government must work better, closer to the needs and priorities of the citizens, according to Agerpres.

The clarifications were made in the context in which the General Secretariat of the Government organized, on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the OECD mission in Romania, the Public Seminar on innovation capacity. On this occasion, the „Innovation Capacity Evaluation Report” was officially launched, which analyzed four aspects at the level of the public administration in Romania: the purpose, the potential, the impact of innovation and the implementation capacity.

If I were to summarize: there is a good perception of the purpose of innovation and a strong potential. The capacity is being implemented. An example is the innovation laboratory, which we are working on together with the Government of Romania. As in many OECD countries, we have dedicated structures that support innovation, whether it’s a lab, a division or an agency. We’re thinking about what that will look like. (…) We will support the creation of this lab, providing access to the experience accumulated in 35 other states. It’s not about creating it in itself, but about contextualizing this laboratory to the problems faced by the Romanian Government, Marco Daglio said in a press statement.

He cited the results of an OECD study according to which only approximately 40% of those interviewed trust that the Government can implement innovative ideas. At the same time, he highlighted that there is a connection between the capacity for innovation and the strengthening of citizens’ trust in the Government.

Innovation means that the Government works better and in a different way, bringing it closer to the needs and priorities of its citizens, initiating new forms of collaboration, supporting more the adoption of policies from the bottom up, involving civil society more. All this can fuel trust. A better quality of the administration is needed, which will increase the trust of the citizens, in the context where in Romania the level of this trust is so low, according to the statistics. But the average level of trust is quite low in other OECD countries too, he stated.

Marco Daglio highlighted that digital tools can ensure a better involvement of citizens in the deliberation process.

Detailing the four dimensions addressed in the preliminary report, the OECD representative explained that the intention of the authorities to use innovation was analyzed first, as well as the areas in which it is to be used. He mentioned that Romania has taken important steps from this point of view, one of them being the accession in 2019 to the OECD Declaration on innovation in the public sector.
Another dimension analyzed was the potential for innovation, and from this point of view, data interoperability plays an important role.
And yet another dimension represents the ability to implement innovation.

Anca Paiusescu, senior legal advisor, stated that the innovation laboratory would start its activity in 2023. It would operate for one year within the Government, and then the project would be outsourced, being implemented at the level of the ministries as well.

In the next period, an action plan will be developed to increase the innovation capacity in the central administration. Within this action plan, there will also be recommendations for the development of the innovation strategy of the public sector, foreseen as an intermediate stage in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Agerpres