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(Open) innovating at scale in the public sector

Buying innovative solutions is different than buying a table. 
A different procurement approach is needed.

“Public organisations need to throw the Transactional approach out of the window and move to a Collaborative approach.”

That’s the key message from Rikesh Shah, Head of Open Innovation at Transport for London. Rikesh has been behind many of the big innovations TfL has introduced in the past 20 years: the Smart ticketing, the Open data, the E-Scooters, the launch of an Innovation Hub (the first in the world for a public entity) and recently the Elizabeth Line.

“With the open data approach for every pound we spend, we get 130 back.”
It has not been a walk in the park though.
“There are big barriers but it can be done”. Some obstacles to be overcome include: 
- Wrong definition of innovation (innovation is “not shiny things your engineers produce”)
- Solving the wrong problem
- Culture & Fear of Failure
- Poor Scouting (“solutions have to be searched globally, local on local is not a solution”)
- Ineffective testing
- Procurement

“The public sector can work with startups and must get a return. However there are multiple avenues other than equity. Equity does create a challenge in the public sector. Startups can create value and revenue with the public sector by having both their IP and equity protected”.

"We can also work with the private sector. We initiated corporate partnerships with companies like Daimler, Bosch, and Waze. We offered them to use London as a test bed for deploying innovative solutions that can be commercialized in other cities."

“There are 100+ sensors in a car. We can use those sensors (that are super expensive to buy) to identify and prevent road risks. This is an example of our partnership with Daimler Mercedes Benz. Now we are getting data from fleets, freights, cyclists…”

More in the conversation between Alberto Onetti and Rikesh Shah.
(Open) innovating at scale in the public sector

(Open) innovating at scale in the public sector

Buying innovative solutions is different than buying a table.
A different procurement approach is needed..
“Public organisations need to throw the Transactional approach out of the window and move to a Collaborative approach”
That’s the key message from Rikesh Shah, Head of Open Innovation at Transport for London. Rikesh has been behind many of the big innovations TfL has introduced in the past 20 years: the Smart ticketing, the Open data, the E-Scooters, the launch of an Innovation Hub (the first in the world for a public entity) and recently the Elizabeth Line.

“With the open data approach for every pound we spend, we get 130 back.”
It has not been a walk in the park though.
“There are big barriers but it can be done”. Some obstacles to be overcome include:
- Wrong definition of innovation (innovation is “not shiny things your engineers produce”)
- Solving the wrong problem
- Culture & Fear of Failure
- Poor Scouting (“solutions have to be searched globally, local on local is not a solution”)
- Ineffective testing
- Procurement

“The public sector can work with startups and must get a return. However there are multiple avenues other than equity. Equity does create a challenge in the public sector. Startups can create value and revenue with the public sector by having both their IP and equity protected”.

We can also work with the private sector. We initiated corporate partnerships with companies like Daimler,Bosch, and Waze. We offered them to use London as a test bed for deploying innovative solutions that can be commercialized in other cities”.

“There are 100+ sensors in a car. We can use those sensors (that are super expensive to buy) to identify and prevent road risks. This is an example of our partnership with Daimler Mercedes Benz. Now we are getting data from fleets, freights, cyclists…”.

More on the conversation between Alberto Onetti and Rikesh Shah.

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