Innovate to prosper
By developing our talent, we will be more Wellington resilient to labour market changes, says Jonnie Haddon, of GovTech.
OPINION: Wellington is one of the world’s most entrepreneurial, vibrant cities. But for us to be a world leader in public sector innovation, the Government must embrace a startup mindset.
We are well positioned to be a leader in public sector innovation, especially in a post-Covid world. New Zealand is ranked No 1 both for ease of business and for the least corrupt government globally. At Creative HQ, we’re already working with many offshore governments to support their innovation programmes, and they see New Zealand as a global leader in this space.
There are three concrete steps the seat of government in Wellington can take to become a leader in government innovation: attracting and growing talent, encouraging government agencies to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and allowing our innovators to influence the creation and delivery of public service initiatives.
Covid-19-induced border closures have shrunk the local talent pool significantly. It’s difficult enough for local tech businesses to hire and retain creative and innovative talent, let alone Government. There are thousands of job openings in tech, many of which are with government agencies.
Let’s harness the latent talent already in the city. From the capital’s amazing startup culture to arts and hospitality, Wellington is a hotbed of creativity.
If Government invests time and energy in upskilling and enabling Wellington’s entrepreneurial talent, the city will thrive.
By developing our local talent, Wellington will be more resilient to the global labour market changes that we’re experiencing. If we can upskill our Wellington talent in innovation and creativity, this effect will flow on into Government too, increasing the creative and innovative capacity of the public sector.
There are already a range of impressive educational programmes, incubators and mentor schemes in place in Wellington that can be supercharged to help achieve this.
SMEs are an asset, not a risk
Wellington’s economy is tethered to central Government contracts. Too often, procurement processes and concerns around risk, means SMEs miss out on government contracts that would boost our startup ecosystem. Additionally, arduous procurement systems can discourage SMEs from working with the Government.
Government must become a major advocate of SMEs and startups, rather than relying on large multinationals when procuring goods or services.
Creative HQ runs New Zealand’s only government innovation accelerator programme, the NZ GovTech Accelerator. One of our partners for the programme, local software developers EndGame, offer their expertise and time to support teams within the programme. In fact, EndGame otherwise avoids government procurement, which is undesirable for many SMEs.
Partnering with local SMEs will see creative thinkers supporting the Government with policy creation and implementation. They’ll help the Government learn what a culture of innovation looks like.
Startup approach will lead to better outcomes
Over the past four years, 38 teams from government agencies have worked with us to develop solutions to major public sector challenges.
In this year’s NZ GovTech Accelerator, Toitū Te Whenua / Land Information New Zealand worked with us on a project to develop a foundational layer of consistent emergency management information, like a directory that points everyone to the same data sources when a crisis strikes.
This project ensures the end user can access the same critical information about resources, data and land. This project could save lives, and ensure equitable access to information.
When policymakers approach policy problems like startups approach challenges – with the end user at the core – we end up with better outcomes for everyone. Over time, the wholesale adoption of an end userdriven approach will see the creation of an efficient, worldleading public service that understands its citizens and meets their service-delivery needs.
Approaching policy this way could help tackle the challenges our great city faces. Critical issues like housing, public transport and inequality are all barriers to retaining our tech talent. We need to ensure that Wellington is the kind of place that tech talent wants to live.
We need to innovate our way out of these challenges, like Covid19. The key to this is for the Government to be adaptive, creative and innovative, like a user-centric startup.