The Whitehall Innovation Hub: Innovation, Capabilities and Connectivity
ABSTRACTGovernment interventions are often expected to deliver innovation policies within unrealistic timeframes and their short shelf life is determined as much by elections as evidence. This is the story of one such intervention in the UK. Encouragingly, New Labour recognized public service innovation for the first time in 2008 and invested in a number of initiatives to support it, one of which was the Whitehall Innovation Hub (WIH).The WIH's task was to persuade policy-makers of their role in public service innovation. Its strategy was to work with innovation champions andto stimulate innovation demand by persuading Whitehall leaders that innovation was a matter of responsiveness and collaboration rather than diktat. This approach was closely aligned to the Cabinet Secretary's desire for civil service transformation and was endorsed by the Department of Innovation and Skill's Permanent Secretary and Minister in 2008.The account that follows demonstrates the significance of narratives about innovation and beliefs about how change can be implemented by administrations, which remain elitist and dominated by departmental fiefdoms. It also highlights the problems encountered by small(marginal) units within highly politicized environments. The Hub was neither inside nor outside of government, and its strategy was contested, although later accepted as pertinent once adopted by the Treasury and Cabinet Office.In May 2010, the Coalition Government was elected and public innovation policy changed dramatically. Austerity and ideology led to policies that focused on public sector savings and business growth with marketization as the driver of service innovation. The government has lost interest in the role capabilities and human connectivity in service innovation and the 'science to business' model of knowledge innovation reinstated.Key Words: Leadership, Public Innovation Policy, Practice and System AlignmentOriginIn 2007 the British government created the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to stimulate innovation and a more integrated policy approach to skills, higher education and innovation. Innovation Nation, the DIUS White Paper on innovation, was published in 2008 and for the first time the British government innovation policy made reference to public sector innovation.Innovation in public services will be essential to the UK's ability to meet the economic and social challenges in the 21st century. Education, health and transport provide the underpinning for all innovative activity. Demand is growing amongst public service users for more efficient service that are personalized to their needs (DIUS, 2008).Innovation Nation recognized the challenges of climate change, public health, ageing, etc. and demanded that those in policy-making become much more explorative and innovative in their problem-solving and initiate dialogue across government, the public sector and business sectors. The government accepted that it needed to stimulate innovation in all sectors and a demand for public service innovation within government. Innovation Nation recommended investment in intermediaries such as the Design Council and NESTA1and the Whitehall Innovation Hub. The WIH's role was to develop Whitehall's internal innovation capabilities and the demand for innovation side, while the role of the Design Council and NESTA would be to stimulate social innovation supply. Although the supply side of social innovation was strong, it lacked funding, government recognition and an infrastructure to sustain it. There was growing recognition that government policy-makers needed to be more concerned with innovation demand (Edler & Georghiou, 2007; Georghiou, 2007).The WIH was situated within the Sunningdale Institute led by Professor Sue Richards as part of the National School of Government [NSG], formerly known as the Civil Service College. Su Maddock was seconded from Manchester Business School to be the WIH Director on the basis of her experience in public leadership, public service innovation and knowledge exchange. …
Working in partnership with service users
Creating a health service where we no longer do things ‘to and for’ patients, but work with them as equal partners in their own care, is at the centre of health strategy, policy and reform. The use of the experience based design approach will ensure that healthcare services truly reflect the needs of patients, carers and staff based on their actual experience. It provides a mechanism whereby patients’ experiences provide insights which identify opportunities and they contribute fully to the change process, leading to safer, more dignified, effective and reliable care.
Heavy metal adsorption from industrial wastewater by PAMAM/TiO2 nanohybrid: Preparation, characterization and adsorption studies
Abstract This study investigates the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater using TiO 2 nanoparticles modified with poly-amidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM, G 4 ). The metal ions Cu 2 + , Pb 2 + , and Cd 2 + were selected as model pollutants. FTIR, SEM, BET surface area and Zeta potential measurements, and Dispersion Observing methods have been employed for characterizing the synthetic nanohybrid and these techniques indicated that the PAMAM loaded on to TiO 2 have been favorably synthesized. The effects of several parameters including initial metal ion concentration, temperature, pH solution, the nanohybrid dosage and contact time were studied. The experimental data were analyzed using equilibrium isotherm and kinetics models. The adsorption process was studied using isotherm, kinetics, and thermodynamics models. The analysis shows that the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics are appropriate models for the adsorption process. The thermodynamic parameters illustrate that the absorption is endothermic and spontaneous. The findings suggest that the nanohybrid is a good super absorbent for the removal of heavy metals from industrial effluents.