By Will Sturgeon, 27 September 2005 14:05
NEWS The UK public sector is failing to innovate while progress in the private sector is putting it to shame, according to a panel of influential IT decision makers.
Speakers and delegates at the silicon.com CIO Forum in London voted overwhelmingly in favour of the private sector when asked where innovation is greatest and many had little time for suggestions the public sector is pulling its weight.
Ian Taylor, MP and Conservative spokesman for IT, said: "Government acts as a catalyst for innovation. It stimulates thought processes that the private sector may be slow to pick up on."
But Jonathan Steel, CEO of the Bathwick Group, argued "just because the government paves the way for others does not make it innovative".
"Innovation can mean many things," said Steel. "It can mean making the impossible happen but I think what the public sector does is it takes what happens and makes it impossible."
Luke Mellors, CIO of the Dorchester, agreed that "stimulating other people to innovate does not make you innovative", and went as far as to suggest the public sector may even be guilty of stealing glory on the back of private sector innovation.
He then really put the boot in, adding: "If it comes to pass that people think the public sector is seen as more innovative I think it will only be because they have stifled the private sector with regulation."
The panel was talking during the CIO Jury live event - a debate session during which cases were put for the prosecution and defence of public sector innovation.
The outcome of a vote among a panel of CIOs was a unanimous vote of no-confidence in public sector innovation, despite arguments from the Tory Taylor who said if it hadn't been for the innovation of the government in selling radio spectrum, progress in UK technology would have slowed considerably.
But even a colleague from the public sector couldn't endorse that line of argument.
Richard Steel, head of ICT at the London Borough of Newham, said: "Ripping off the telcos for 3G licences is arguably an innovation but whether it's a good innovation is another thing."
Steel added: "£23bn for selling something which is free - like the spectrum... for the taxpayer that was innovation."
Claire Hamon, business information systems director for the Crown Prosecution Service, also singled out government procurement policy as a factor in stifling rather than promoting UK innovation, with large vendors seemingly more likely to get the nod.
"It makes it difficult for smaller companies to compete," said Hamon.
And size does matter it would seem.
Steel concluded that the public sector is hampered by its "monolithic nature" which makes fleet-of-foot innovation impossible.
Comments
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1. kevin Inskip
In my experience, over the last few years, much of the innovation in the public sector - real, percieved or just plain spun - has largelybeen achieved through the innovations of the private sector partners.
But does this matter as long as it happens? I think not, for at least it is progress.
Just the other day I sat in front of a consultant at my local hospital, who was ecstatic that he could call up on his pc my complete history of blood tests since moving into the area 18 yrs ago. no longer does he have to rely on my failing memory.
This is not strictly innovation but it is real progress. There are real progressive thinkers in the public sector who are driving the agenda for using technology and innovetion to improve services & efficiency, and that is what we should be concentrating on, not who can take the credit for being innovators.
2. Nick Clark
Having attended the event, which was excellent, I felt a large part of the public sector was not represented in the arguments for the motion. Everything was about big central government projects (the word monolithic came up a number of times), whereas the vast majority of the public sector is smaller organisations. Much innovation takes place in these.
Jonathon Steel said that innovation comes from individuals rather than organisations - well individuals work in the public sector too.
The public sector (central government) is good at forcing the public sector (smaller organisations such as colleges and schools) to be innovative by insisting on the mantra "more for less", and continually moving the goalposts with changes in reporting requirements and central 'initiatives', sometimes prompted by changes in political masters.
Don't forget also that the universities are public sector organisations, and most of the technology we use today originated from their research.