The European Public Sector Award (EPSA) hosted the Workshop on Behavioural Science to Foster Innovation at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht. Delivered by Prof. Dr. Lars Tummers of Utrecht University, the event provided a comprehensive exploration of behavioural science's potential to revolutionize innovation within the public sector.
UNU-EGOV participated in this event through Naci Karkin, Senior Research Associate at the unit. This highlights our commitment to leveraging behavioural science to foster digital governance and innovation.
By attending the workshop, I have found great opportunities to introduce UNU-EGOV and my internal project on fostering participation in e-participation initiatives by employing behaviourally informed designs. I have also participated in the interactive sessions. The event has helped me to learn theoretical insights and practical accumulation of information I could employ in my research to foster innovation by employing behavioural science.
The workshop introduced the participants to key concepts of behavioural science and how they could be applied to foster innovation in the public sector. Through an examination of human behaviour and decision-making processes, the participants interactively discovered how to overcome biases that hinder innovation, better understand users and beneficiaries of public services, and design solutions that are more effectively adopted by their intended audience.
Interactive sessions provided hands-on experiences in applying behavioural insights to real-world innovation challenges.
Topics explored at the Workshop:
- The role of behavioural science in driving innovation.
- The impact of cognitive biases on decision-making processes.
- Strategies for cultivating a culture of risk-taking and creative thinking.
- Practical applications of behavioural insights in the design of services and products.
- Case studies demonstrating successful behavioural science applications in public sector innovation.