CAPAM 2018 International Innovations Awards Winners Announced
Georgetown, Guyana, 24 October 2018 – The Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) is pleased to announce that the 2018 International Innovations Awards (IIA) winners have been selected. Presented during the CAPAM Banquet at the conclusion of the 2018 Biennial Conference, the Awards celebrate the spirit of innovation in the public service by recognizing organisations that have made significant contributions to improving governance and services in the public sector.
Ms Margaret Saner, former Chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) and Chair of the IIA Assessment Panel introduced the Awards, noting that, “many of the finalists’ innovations speak to the resilience, determination and leadership of those involved, and often understate the challenges and obstacles faced. These people have demonstrated vision, ingenuity and sensitivity to citizens and colleagues needs.” She continued, saying that “some innovations were strongly community based, while others focused on equipping the public service to better serve citizens or to enhance economic or social potential. They exemplify what is best about the public service and show what is possible even in the face of long-standing, deep-rooted problems.”
Hon Moses Nagamootoo M.P., Acting President and Prime Minister of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, presented category awards to the following winning teams:
Category: Innovation Incubation
Innovation that represents early thinking and promotes unproven innovative ideas that have not yet become replicable actions. It highlights amazingly radical and promising forward thinking that can ignite further ideas for innovative practices.
Winner: Unnayan Banka – Reinventing Education using Technology, India.
Category: Citizen-focussed Innovation
Honours innovative policies, programmes, services, and access to services that are outward-facing and client-based. This category showcases solutions that address root causes or emerging societal demands for the delivery of the organisation’s programmes and services to citizens and other external partners.
Winner: Helping Elderly Singaporeans Plan for Retirement in a Digital World, Singapore.
Category: Innovation in Public Service Management
Recognises innovations that are largely internal/inward-facing to government and consist of functional or whole-of-system policies or business processes. It showcases innovative solutions to the everyday, underlying demands of running a public service organisation in any number of fields.
Winner: Unified Agriculture Markets, India.
Category: Innovation DNA.
Recognises initiatives centred on building internal capacity for creativity and innovation, embedding open innovation practices in government, and systematically soliciting input at all levels. It is characterised by an environment where innovation, creativity, space to challenge, and noble failure have become, or are becoming, inherent to the climate, mind-set, attitudes and structures of the organisation and its leadership.
Winners: InNEAvation (NEA´s Innovation DNA), Singapore
The awards ceremony reached its conclusion when the Hon Moses Nagamootoo M.P., presented the Overall Gold Medal to:
Unified Agriculture Markets, India.
CAPAM enables public service professionals to effectively solve challenges and pursue interests by exchanging knowledge, networking, and engaging in shared learning about leading practices.