PACIFIC INNOVATION FAIR 2018

The digital transformation of the workplace and the structural configuration of the Canadian federal bureaucracy is no longer a futuristic fantasy. A redefined government-citizenship relationship has never looked so promising.

Event Description: The Pacific Innovation Fair is designed to showcase innovative and transformative initiatives occurring at all levels of government including federal, provincial, municipal and First Nations. Discussion topics included: innovative service delivery; collaborative working; healthy workplace creation; First Nation reconciliation; institutional reform, and; enabling tools and approaches.

Co-Hosts: British Columbia Federal Council (BCFC)
University of British Columbia (UBC)

Background: The British Columbia Federal Council (BCFC) facilitates in-person and virtual networking connections between federal departments and agencies in British Columbia. The 45 members of the BCFC represent 43 federal departments, agencies and organizations that conduct government business in the province.

VSIR Thinking Points:

• The digital transformation of the workplace and the structural configuration of the Canadian federal bureaucracy is no longer a futuristic fantasy. The proliferation of encrypted communications on mobile platforms provides the opportunity to pivot away from a one-size-fits-all approach to a “mass customization” business model. But with no fixed model for innovation labs in Canada, policymakers will have to clearly differentiate policy “innovation” from policy “improvement.”
• The rapid proliferation of government policy labs is driven by a growing demand for strategic agility, organizational learning, and a “diplomacy of knowledge” at all levels of government. Designing collaborative innovation platforms that harness the “wisdom of the crowd” involves more than a sharing of “best practices.” It requires a robust managerial foresight capacity and a strategic culture that not only tolerates, but actively promotes, decentralized decision-making.
• Governments are waking up to the limitations of prescribed planning methodologies, but it is critical for decision-makers to enable multi-scalar processes and to mentor multi-lingual individuals that serve as conduits to external knowledge-sharing systems. “Influencers” or highly connected individuals with access to more than one network can significantly shape the timing, volume, velocity, direction, and quality of knowledge that is either shared with (or withheld from) other knowledge seekers. That is why the sudden or unexpected departure of networked individuals poses a significant long-term risk.

Agenda and Speakers: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huBFcSu5PsDdHJPAWZW5BpbAj1pJ1Y2HYFvqG0cqO18/edit#