Here is the next piece of the WeThink project, our effort to explore new ideas and promote solutions to the challenges that our society is facing.  The project is based on the idea that we need to re-think the way we create, support and sustain ventures as well as how we innovate.  Next up: Government Procurement.

Dominic Campbell, a digital government and social innovation entrepreneur with a background in policy, communications and engagement, writes in the opening of his article:

For too long in government, organizations have rewarded risk aversion over risk management, process over outcomes and structures over common sense. Nowhere is this more clearly manifest than in government’s procurement processes.

As you might imagine, the procurement process is clunky, arcane, and seemingly anything but innovative.  But Campbell is optimistic.  He thinks/knows innovation is possible within even the most mundane of government operations.  He writes:

But that’s not to say there aren’t people on the inside willing to take risks, it’s just that they are strongly discouraged and certainly never rewarded for it. Instead government procurement culture squeezes the life out of the precious few enterprising public servants who try to innovate and push the boundaries of service delivery using procurement in creative ways to seek best market solutions.

Read the whole article.  You’ll learn something for sure.  Then tell us what you think.

WeThink – IBM – Final