A joint ippr/RSA event 'After the downturn' took place in Newcastle this week at the The Pukka Pie Arena or whatever St James' Park is called this week. Speakers John Tomaney, Deborah Jenkins, Sir George Russell all had interesting things to say, but it was Matthew Taylor of the RSA who shook things up. He descirbed the final report of the Commission on public sector reform 'a decent bit of work', but that it had a 'if only feel to it' ... he is a bit ruder in his blog.
He descibed the danger of the North East going into a 'downward spiral' if it did not embrace innovation in the public sector. He listed 5 conditions for innovation:
- 'to know when you are screwed' ... face up to reality
- 'overcoming silos' ... collaborative working
- 'take risks'
- 'engage users' ... don't ask their opinions, find out what services mean to them and involve them in their design
- 'research and development capacity'
These fit pretty well with Cadence's permission, connection, ambition, motivation model that we worked on for the Whitehall Innovation Hub. He then called for a 'Innovation Charter' (no cones hotline though) and the ipprN's new Director (Ed Cox) offered to convene a group to follow up.
The discussion after his speech was lively, leadership came up a lot. A lot of the points rasied had been covered in the Public service paradox. That report says innovation, engagement, prevention are contingent on a new understanding of local funding and accountability.
Another attendee (Mark Robinson, Executive Director of Arts Council England, North East) blogs interestingly on the event and draws parallels with the challenges facing the arts world.
It was a good event, but left alot of questions unanswered that need aswers soon if the NE is to avoid the rather grim scenario Taylor articulated.
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