Innovation station: how to create the space and systems for experimentation in government
Governments need to innovate if they are to become more efficient and meet citizens’ rising expectations. But the culture of public sector organisations isn’t always conducive to driving change at pace. In a recent webinar, experts discussed how to embed a culture of experimentation – one that allows for short-term risk with the goal of achieving long-term gains
Much of the conversation around innovation in government focuses on new technologies, bold ideas, and future transformation. But what does it take to make innovation and experimentation happen in practice, within the constraints of public sector systems?
In a recent webinar hosted by Global Government Forum, with support from knowledge partner Levio, public sector leaders and experts explored how governments can create the space, structure, and culture needed to test new approaches – and how to move beyond pilots to embed what works.
Building innovation into government systems
Erica Ren, chief data officer at Shared Services Canada, emphasised that innovation must be deliberately embedded into organisations to be successful.
She explained that at Shared Services Canada, there is a team dedicated to digital innovation who have a clear focus, funding and guardrails. “We didn’t just say, ‘hey, let’s do this on the side of your desk’ – we institutionalised and formalised that innovation role within [the department].”
Part of the team’s remit is to work with academia and Canadian technology organisations, including startups, to find “the most Canadian and sovereign technologies” that can be brought in for the rest of the government to use, she added. One example is the CANChat chatbot, a 100% Canadian sovereign innovation that is currently being rolled out to thousands of public servants.
Ren also stressed the importance of leadership in shaping culture, removing unnecessary barriers, creating space for ideas, and being clear about the sphere within which teams can operate.
And she highlighted the need to rethink how success is defined: governments tend to reward outputs, but innovation depends on learning. “We don’t celebrate failure enough,” she noted, arguing that unsuccessful attempts are an essential part of experimentation.
“We have to celebrate the wins. But we also have to make changes in our system so we can have more wins in the future,” she added, referring to the need to be able to more easily update and adopt policy, legislation and guardrails based on the outcomes of successful innovation.
Starting with the problem, not the technology
Erica-Kirsten Easton, chief data officer and director general at Transport Canada, noted that innovation “can be sexy” but that it needs to be well-planned and considered for it to be sustainable, and that practicality is key.
One of the common pitfalls, she said, is not defining the problem well enough and not thinking imaginatively enough about how it could be solved – both things people can do if given the space and time to collaborate effectively.
She described work at Transport Canada to improve contact centre services, which were fragmented, labour intensive and lacked “technological backbone” and process.
Enterprise architects, data management specialists and service designers were brought together to define the problem, examine user experience and design a solution, underpinned by an agile, iterative approach and clear governance mechanisms to help guide the project.
As she explained, the department is looking to apply a similar approach and more fully leverage technology to streamline and automate other clunky processes, including through innovation with partners like Shared Services Canada.
She reiterated that one of the biggest barriers to innovation is “solutioning too early”, particularly when organisations focus on technology without fully understanding the problem, and that collaboration and clear governance are among the key components to successful delivery. “It’s the small wins that demonstrate progress,” she added.
Co-design with users in mind
Valerie Kelly, director of innovation and transformation at the Government of New Brunswick, emphasised that innovation is most likely to improve outcomes when it is co-designed with service users.
The Government of New Brunswick (GNB) – a province in the south-east of Canada – has worked collaboratively with the community partners and frontline staff that deliver citizen services on its behalf, to co-design digital solutions.
One example is a digital portal for care coordination that allows partners to share information about clients, including what services they need, what services they’ve received, and changes in their health or behaviour that may warrant additional support from GNB’s social development team.
A feedback loop was embedded to enable continual learning and improvement throughout the development phase and monitoring enabled GNB to ascertain that the solution was driving the intended outcomes.
Through effective co-design, the portal – which has been scaled to half of the province so far – has resulted in quicker response times and improved service output, and reduced the administrative burden on GNB and its partners.
Kelly explained that GNB is also using AI assistants to augment the work of its support teams, helping staff navigate new business rules that have been introduced alongside the provincial government’s move to a new service delivery model.
Rethinking the government approach to innovation
Picking up Erica-Kirsten Easton’s earlier point about the problem space, Stephen Karam, partner, Canadian public sector at Levio, argued that when driving innovation, there is often too much focus on technology and not enough on the problems technology is being employed to solve.
Organisations should “embrace and fall in love with the problem space”, he emphasised.
He described innovation as a “masterclass in storytelling”, where success stems from bringing together different perspectives and unifying them around a common goal. Too often teams rush towards solutions without fully exploring the problem, he warned.
Another of his key points was that in innovation projects and programmes, policy, procurement and regulation can be viewed as “adversaries”, whereas actually they should be treated as “dance partners”. Bring the dance partners together to understand each other’s perspectives and drivers, develop a common language, and you can learn the “choreography” of the dance, he said.
“The thing we’re trying to get away from is just engineering solutions,” he said. “We have to architect change, and it all starts with a common vocabulary.”
Other issues are the need to move from a “fixed mindset to a growth mindset”, which Karam said can be overcome through the deployment of certain techniques, and to tolerate a degree of risk, which can feel counterintuitive when you’re dealing with public funds and are accountable to the public.
“You can be publicly accountable in an ecosystem of uncertainty with the right controls… and with trust within that,” he said.
He also advocated for the power of incremental change. “Let’s do 1% better every day and the compounding effects of those changes are really going to be felt over time”.
Overcoming barriers
Throughout the discussion, the panellists identified common barriers to innovation, including silos, rigid processes, fear of failure and a tendency to focus on technology rather than outcomes.
However, they agreed that these challenges can be addressed through strong leadership, collaboration, clear guidelines, and an environment that is conducive to experimentation.
Scaling successful initiatives depends on defining outcomes early, measuring results, and improving as solutions are rolled out.
Ultimately, the discussion emphasised that innovation in government is an ongoing process. Working it into everyday operations, fostering collaboration and supporting teams to experiment and learn is critical if governments are to deliver better services for citizens.
The ‘From innovation labs to incubator units: creating space and systems for experimentation in government’ webinar took place on 28 February 2026. It was hosted by Global Government Forum with support from knowledge partner Levio.
Watch the webinar on demand here to hear the panellists answer questions covering topics such as:
The issue and impact of digital sovereignty on innovation
Making public servants comfortable to put forward ideas and giving them the ‘freedom to fail’
How to scale pilots
How to define success metrics
Building long-term capacity for experimentation
About Annalee Card
Annalee is a St. Lawrence University student perusing a degree in Business & Digital Media with a minor in Sports Studies & Exercise Science. As part of the St. Lawrence London Program, Annalee is interning with Global Government Forum where she supports event coordination and media initiatives. She has previously gained experience working with organizations like the Northeastern New York PGA and Blood Cancer United. She is a dual sport athlete competing on both the St. Lawrence NCAA DIII women's golf and field hockey teams.
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