Key Benefits:
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ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC
Draft Resolution No. 414 /X
Creation and Development of a Ideas Factory in the Publica Administration
I. Objective of the Draft Resolution
The XVII Constitutional Government in its Programme has taken up the objective of " achieve an Administration
effective, that serves citizens and businesses well ", and acknowledges that" the key to the competitiveness of the Portuguese economy
it's called innovation. Innovation of processes, innovation of products and services, technological innovation and innovation in the organization and the
management. "
In the fulfillment of this Programme, the Government has been developing a number of initiatives that " target the
promotion of citizenship, economic development and quality of public services, improve the efficiency of services
provided. "
Therefore, in the framework of the Modernization of Public Administration, the Government has adopted measures
indispensable for the promotion of economic development on the basis of the improvement of services
public and in gains in efficiency. Of these measures are the Restructuring Programme of the
Central State Administration (PRACE) with a view to the reorganisation of the Administration's services
Central of the State, the Administrative and Legislative Simplification Program (SIMPLEX) that integrates a
set of initiatives aimed at facilitating the lives of citizens and businesses, and the establishment of the Agency
for Administrative Modernization, plus a clear sign of the imperative to realize in practice a
Modernization of the Portuguese Public Administration.
Despite this set of initiatives, a recent study on " The Papel of Public Administration in the
Society and the Portuguese Economy " 1 concluded that:
" There is a growing culture of service and attention to the customer in Portugal, disseminated by sectors
fundamental of economic, social and cultural activity, which tease in not being adopted, in a visible manner,
1 Roberto Carneiro, Carlos Liz, Elsa Gervásio (2008) The Role of Public Administration in Society and Economics
Portuguese-An Empypic study, Notebooks INA, 37.
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by the Public Administration. From here results a very clear dissonance, involving two worlds of
equivalent importance to the daily life of the citizen, which it will impose to correct. This is a diagnosis that,
significantly and in essence, is shared by leaders of the Administration, provider of services, and by the
citizens, their customers.
For the citizens, the Public Administration has evolved little in recent years and has still
many problems, being from the entities that least contributes to the increase in
competitiveness of the country. Public sectors from other countries of the European Union and private sector are assessed
much more positive form, being that the paramount responsibility for the maintenance of the status quo in our country is
assigned to the Government and the top leaders of the Public Administration ".
The experience gained demonstrates that success of the modernization of any administration depends on
much of its protagonists and actors. It is they who directly feel the impact of the changes
structural. They are the ones that have to be conquered in the process of modernization. Hence, it is necessary
establish a transparent reform process in which the public servants themselves can
invest . It is a way to make use of your experience and creativity as well as to get your
commitment
Despite the process of restructuring the Public Administration to say also respect to each employee
public, the services reorganization projects presented have typically the exclusive intervention of
top management of the administration or external consultants, not favoring inclusion and participation
of the officials who, in the first line, have daily, direct and immediate contact with the problems that if
raise citizens, local communities and businesses in the context of contact with the services of the
Public Administration.
Given this circumstantialism, this project has the aim of constituting itself as a call
individual to innovation in the Portuguese public administration. It rests on the deep belief that there is talent and
creativity in the approximately 550,000 Portuguese civil servants and that an investment in their
individual and collective innovation capacities will be significantly generator of value for Portugal.
In this context, motivate employees to collaborate systematically in a generation team effort
of ideas of radical improvement, building an innovation system that is able to support with resources
financial and human the projects with impact, it is very important.
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Given the difficulties of punctual and unstructured approaches, we consider that a form
already proven to create the energy needed to bring innovation to the first line of public function is
through a system of innovation. This Recommendation aims to contribute to the discussion of how to bring the
innovation to the mind of each public employee, what are the best worldwide practices at the level of
governments and large companies and what the major barriers to innovation are.
Thus, the Draft Resolution aims to recommend the Government the development of a factory of ideas ,
that encourages innovation in an independent way, and that involves and motivates the civil servants to
improve the services they provide by making available a methodology and the necessary financial resources
so that those can create and lead up to the citizens innovative public service ideas. Hence, the
Factory constitute itself as an autonomous system to the method of evaluation and performance of the employee,
is distinct from the "best practice award in the public sector", and aims to encourage, evaluate and promote ideas
concrete, innovative, valid conducive to the improvement of the services provided, constituting itself as a
tool with a view to motivating, compromising and rewarding each employee who contributes to the improvement of the
service that provides. On the other hand, the factory is also intended to remove barriers to innovation,
ensuring that ideas with merit have viability, and recourse to financial and human means for
be able to be put into practice, and subsequently generalized to other areas of public administration.
II. International experiences
As it is common knowledge, the movements of reform and modernization of public administration do not
is exclusive to our country. Before it falls into a global phenomenon started, some two decades ago, in the
United Kingdom and in the New Zelândia2.
It has been nearly two decades since the beginning of government reforms and public administration,
matter to look at them, learn from their experiences and welcome what they unanimously have been
presented as the best practices.
Like the Portuguese case, many of the reforms carried out were the result of crisis of the system
budget of the state. So it was necessary to organize the respective administration, so as to
2 Many of the concepts concerning innovation in the public sector origination from the reform movement known as the " new
public sector management " (new public management) or "reinvent governance" started in the UK and the New
Zealand in the 80.
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get a Public Administration with less costs, a quality Public Administration, a
Professional and competitive Public Administration in the context of economic globalization.
Comparative studies also reveal that budget cuts have demanded and led to development
of human resources management tools increasingly close to the private sector, based on the
promotion of merit and the commitment of each employee with the public service it provides.
More and more the international community has been taking initiatives that demonstrate the usefulness of the
sharing of information and "learning from others". Example of this in the framework of Modernization of the
Public Administration was the initiative of the European Public Sector Award (EPSA), the first platform
pan-European Public Administration that aims to make public and transparent initiatives taken to
cable at the level of the Modernization of Public Administration.
In New Zealand, one of the fundamental aspects of the Reformation considered at the end of the 90, was
precisely the "personal" factor. In a first phase of the reform the attention focused on the structures and
systems, but quickly became demonstrated that in any reform the excellence could only be
made if counted with the people who directly provide the public service , being this way
fundamental that the employees were motivated and with this truly made a commitment
with the process of change. Without a staff motivate would not achieve excellence in the provision of the service.
So it is not enough for structural reform, reform has to be done at different levels, involving
people, knowledge, funds, technologies and other resources such as organizational culture and the
relations humanas3.
The bet on human resources is also one of the elements of the modernization of the Central Administration
of the State in Germany- Regierungsprogramm Zukunftsorientiert Verwaltung durch innovationnen , from September of
2006-and of the modernization of the administrations of the federated states, as is the case with the State of Bavaria
and of the State of North Rhineland that have already put in place the method of Innovation in the Administration
Public-"Innovative Moderne Verwaltung"-making express reference that " in public services there are
enough women and men, committed to their work and relatively to which they can be critical and make new
proposals "
In the cited paper on Innovation in Public Administration, the German Government mentions that despite
of fiscal consolidation efforts, the success of the modernization of the public administration will not be
3 Government Reform: of roles and functions of Government and public Administration New Zeland-country paper
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achieved with the imposition of the costs on its workers. To the contrary, what is required are
innovative solutions with a view to increasing the efficiency and flexibility of the Administration. The
innovation increases productivity and creates new perspectives for employees, and constitutes a
strategic form of, on the one hand, making use of your experience and creativity, and on the other being able to get your
commitment.
The Government of one of the largest European economies recognizes that modern demands for a
Public Administration, more efficient and directed to better serve citizens, needs new
results-oriented processes and capable of involving the people who with it work. And for that
new communication processes must be implemented.
Another important factor is the involvement of the citizens themselves in the design of future services
public, as well as the establishment of an ecosystem of partners for social entrepreneurship and
of public service ( social entrepreneurship ), which works in conjunction with the state's organizations for
finding innovative public service solutions and disseminating them by the public administration in general. A
successful experience in the establishment of this ecosystem is the United Kingdom. Since 2002 there is
an innovation initiative led by the National School of Government 4, which has been presenting cases of success
in the most diverse areas, from education projects between the school and the community to the provision of
care of saúde5.
It is universally recognized that the objectives of the modernization of the Public Administration will only be
hit with skilled, motivated and efficient professionals. This puts a high
requirement in the training of personnel and the management of human resources.
The Public Administration needs professionals who know to look to the future, a resource management
humans who know how to motivate, a culture of management that knows how to involve the staff in the decision making
decisive and important, as well as in the determination of the objectives and measures to achieve them.
Because to the state as to the Society if they impose increasing challenges and demands, the commitment of
each public servant is indispensable if we want efficient and quality, capable public services
to contribute to the development of the country's economy, which must gain in efficiency and effectiveness for
compete in a globalized economy.
4 http://www.nationalschool.gov.uk/innovation/
5 Creating the Conditions for Public Innovation, by Prof. Su Maddock, Innovation Advisor, National School of Government
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III. The Factory of Ideas in the National Framework
The Government has approved by the Law No. 66-B/2007 of December 28, the integrated management system and
assessment of performance in the Public Administration (SIADAP). Despite also this " contribute to the
improvement of the performance and quality of service of the Public Administration, for the consistency and harmony of the action of the services,
leaders and too many workers and for the promotion of their professional motivation and skills development ", the
SIADAP is how the name itself indicates a subjective evaluation system (of the employee), within the framework of
hierarchy of services.
The proposed system that we designate from Factory of Ideas visa precisely not the evaluation of the
employee performance, but the stimulus to the contribution of the employees with new ideas, respective
assessment and allocation of resources for their implementation on the ground. This is so of a system
autonomous which integrates an objective evaluation process of the idea itself and not the employee, what
carries more valuable assets for the employee's motivation, and above all for the innovation and improvement of the
services.
We consider that the aspiration of the civil service of Portugal should be to build one of the
best public services at the world level . Hence, being in an early stage the reform of the
structures of the Public Administration, there must be a further step, with a view to the provision of public services
pautered by excellence.
The experience gained in the framework of the Public Administration's reform movements demonstrates that
a continuous process with a view to the provision of a public service of excellence depends on:
Institute a formal innovation process
Thinking of public services in the perspective of the citizen, facing him in the optics of the utent, facing
your problems
Ensure that innovation is an activity that happens on a continuous basis
Engage many collaborators in the innovation effort (linking their participation to the context of the
your work)
Search for incremental improvements, but also innovations that change the rules of the game
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Reinforce frequently the importance of innovation
Use metrics to monitor the results of innovation
Compensate employees who contribute ideas and make the personal investment of
learning of concepts, tools and practices of innovation.
In what concerns the funding of the system designated by Factory of Ideas , we remind you that the
National Strategic Reference Framework takes on as a major strategic disigning the qualification
of the Portuguese, valuing the innovation and the increase in efficiency and quality of public institutions.
In the context of the Agenda for competitiveness factors one of the key priorities translates
on increasing the efficiency and quality of public administration, reducing the respective public costs
of context.
The Factory of Ideas based on a system that acts on concrete themes and creates new skills
internal, should constitute a project to be financed by the Operational Programme Factors of
Competitiveness, framing the development of the different innovative ideas, as long as promoters
of efficiency and flexibility of the administration, and as a desideratum to improve the services provided by the
administration publishes, bringing greater efficiency to service and improving citizens ' satisfaction.
Hence, and considering that the year 2009 is the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, the Assembly
of the Republic recommends to the Government the establishment of a System designated by Factory Ideas
that:
1. Be based on good practice assorted in five universally accepted innovation principles :
a) Search for innovation at the level of the concept of the service to be provided to the citizen
Taking into account, specifically:
Who are the citizen groups to serve?
What products or services will be offered?
How these products or services will be offered (partnered; contact channels with the
citizen, etc.)?
What value will be delivered to the citizen (in convenience, trust and time savings)?
What cost is the state incurring to deliver these benefits to the citizen?
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b) Import of innovation for the front line, involving mainly employees
first-line public and citizens. As the service reorganisation projects have
systematically demonstrated to resort to the exclusive intervention of top frames of the
administration and at times of external consultants, systematically excluding employees
of the first line, which have in fact a daily contact with the problems of the citizens.
c) Definition of the future framework to which it aspires and work to achieve it
Improving in an incremental way what exists is a pragmatic and defensible action but it is also
fundamental to stimulate a forward-looking approach on what the future that each organization
intends for itself and with that point of departure, develop a migration plan of the
present for that future.
d) Adoption of a structured approach of generation and acceleration of implementation
on the ground of innovative ideas
The innovation process should be structured and complete, assenting in the following phases: (i)
to think the future of the public service in question; (ii) stimulate the generation of ideas; (iii) incubar and
experiment with the ideas / projects; (iv) make the projects grow, disseminating their implementation
in multiple areas of the public administration.
e) Innovation only learns by doing
The path for an individual to develop individual innovation capabilities does not go through a
long theoretical training. The only way to learn to innovate is by making innovation, working
on concrete and real themes.
2. Assent in :
Innovation Processes: Definition of a systematic process to build a vision about the future,
generate ideas, accelerate their implementation on the ground and disseminate their scope of action;
Model of Governance : Definition of the actors of the innovation system (internal and external to the
public administration), what their responsibilities and power of decision are. At this point is
included the definition of the competencies of the innovation desk / Factory of Ideas ;
Resources and funding: Clarification of the origins of financing the innovation system, well
how the launch and implementation of the ideas generated;
Organic culture and change management: A new organizational paradigm is needed in the
public administration, based on a new attitude of openness to citizens and to civil society,
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stimulating the initiative and entrepreneurship of civil servants, rewarding merit and
eliminating the stigmatization of the error;
Innovation Metrics: Definition of the indicators of performance of the innovation system, as well as the
value of the contributions of its actors, specifically of employees. Clarification of the
reporting mechanism of results to the tutelage
Ecosystem partners for innovation: Definition of the partners to be involved, specifically (IPSS,
Companies, Universities, NGOs, Co-investors, etc. ..)
Support technological tools: Specification of the collaboration tools required by a
fruitful interaction between officials, top managers of public administration, citizens and partners
for innovation.
3. Attribution awards, proceed to allocation of the required resources and ensure an assessment
independent ;
For this is proposed:
The establishment of a prize for all selected and implemented ideas, whose formula
of computation integrates, namely the following factors (a) usefulness of the proposal, b) factor achievement
(degree of difficulty of problems and the development of the resolution pathway) and c) factor
application (degree of improvement of services);
The evaluation system of the proposals, in a manner to be effective and capable of gaining the trust of each
public servant, should be independent of the services in concrete and provide for the possibility of
each public official to make their proposal to the system, regardless of the
knowledge of your hierarchical superior.
Constitution in each Ministry of a Core of Innovation with the responsibility to analyze and do
the filtering of each proposal presented with respect to the services that are in their dependence;
Constitution of an Innovation Central with competence to (i) (re) analyse and appreciate the
proposals (re) forwarded by each Innovation Core, (ii) develop projects
pilot for the viable proposals, and (iii) to evaluate and assign the awards (iv) Allocation resources
financial for the incubation of innovative ideas.
Palace of S. Bento, January 7, 2009
The Deputees