Innovation 2026 a ‘groundbreaking gathering’, says Cat Little in invite to civil servants
Cat Little, the chief operating officer of the UK civil service and permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, has sent a letter to colleagues across government urging them to attend the Innovation 2026 conference and exhibition in London.
“Inspired by the success of the last two years, I’m excited to be again hosting and speaking at Innovation on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 March 2026,” she said. “This groundbreaking gathering will again bring together public servants from across the UK civil service, wider public service, and from around the world to share examples of innovation, meet their peers and learn from each other.”
The event is organised by Global Government Forum and co-hosted by the UK Government, UK Civil Service, the Cabinet Office, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It will be held at Excel in London and is free for public servants to attend.
“We all know that we need to develop and test new approaches to delivery – and learn what works to better serve our citizens and elected leaders,” Little said in her letter. “Collaboration across the public service, with delivery partners and internationally is essential to achieve the first rate, citizen-focused services we strive for.
“The connections made, innovations shared and lessons learned [at Innovation in previous years] have been invaluable in shaping thinking around civil service modernisation.”
Find out more about the Innovation 2026 agenda and speakers and register to attend here
Agenda designed to ‘help us be a truly modern civil service’
The agenda – which includes plenary sessions, workshops, exhibitions and networking – covers topics such as unlocking government transformation; embedding innovation into public service; building capacity and skills for innovation; and boosting public sector resilience.
There will be sessions showcasing innovations from government departments, and spotlighting the best ideas from the government’s test and learn programme. In addition, for the first time, there will be dedicated health and national defence and security programmes.
There will be more than 70 speakers at the event from the UK government and from countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, Estonia and Germany. The European Commission will also be represented, as will the Greater London Authority and organisations such as the OECD, the Tony Blair Institute and University College London.
Speakers include Little; Samantha Jones, permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care; Christine Bellamy, government chief product officer at the Government Digital Service; and Marie-Chantal Girard, president of the Public Service Commission of Canada.
“We want as many of you as possible to join in these discussions, take the opportunity to meet colleagues, share groundbreaking examples of government innovation from around the world and help us be a truly modern civil service,” Little said.
She highlighted that the conference agenda has been steered by the priorities identified through consultation across government and in-depth interviews with permanent secretaries, undertaken as part of Global Government Forum’s study Rewiring the State: Unlocking Government Transformation.
The event’s partners include Visa, Snowflake, CGI, Digital Modus, Salesforce, PA, Nortal, Deloitte, Rainmaker, and Hippo, and government departments and agencies including Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Defence and Security Accelerator, and Open Innovation Team, based in the Department for Education.
Find out more about the Innovation 2026 agenda and speakers and register to attend here
Read more:
Read a summary of Cat Little’s keynote address at Innovation 2025
Find out more about and download Global Government Forum report Creating the conditions for innovation in government: Takeaways from Innovation 2025
About Mia Hunt
Mia has been editor of globalgovernmentforum.com since 2019. She has 15 years’ experience as a journalist and editor and specialises in writing for civil and public servants worldwide, including covering sustainability policy and related issues. She has led the Global Government Women’s Network since it launched in 2023. Previously, she covered commercial property having been market reports and supplements editor at Property Week and deputy editor at Retail Destination. She graduated from Kingston University London with a first-class honours degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.
