Public Entrepreneurship as a Response to Complex Challenges

<< Background >>In recent years, a growing body of experts emphasizes the public sector’s innovation potential against the backdrop of complex societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, migration, poverty and many more.“While there is a growing body of evidence on innovative practices in the public sector, there is still limited knowledge of what tools governments can use to overcome innovation barriers and strengthen organisations’ capacity to innovate” (OECD 2017, 16).This very need is addressed by the public:START project. While there are many digital learning materials on related subjects such as (social) entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, project management etc., few to none were tailored for public sector staff specifically. The lack of target-group-specific educational offers is a hindrance especially for small and medium-sized municipalities to act as agents of change within regional systems.<< Objectives >>The desired impact of this project was to nurture a new generation of Public Entrepreneurs who actively implement the learning materials provided by this project in order to respond to complex socio-economic challenges in their respective region.All activities undertaken in the public:START project taken together have successfully created the conditions for this vision to come true. Now, an innovative on-the-job learning tool that conveys much needed knowledge and competencies is readily available for many hundreds of regional stakeholders. What is more, the developed Public Entrepreneurship Digital Learning Programme supports teachers and trainers to integrate the public:START learning materials in their courses and seminars.Taken together, both tools will unfold a lasting positive impact on the public sector’s capacity to manage complex challenges. The prerequisite for this is, of course, that it is ensured that the developed resources accumulate a critical user base.<< Implementation >>In fact, most activities carried out aimed to build-up user networks for the developed resources. The partner consortium hosted a total of six national multiplier events that were attended by approximately 184 public sector representatives. All partners actively contributed to a regular dissemination of meaningful material such as newsletters and blogposts and thus helped to increase the project results’ visibility and reach. Significant milestones of dissemination were the execution of online-workshops at the ERASMUSDAYS event in October 2022 and the European Week of Regions and Cities in October 2023 that together attracted more than 100 stakeholders from various European public sector institutions.Moreover, all partners have established strong working relationships with municipalities in their region. They were involved closely in all project milestones by means of regular meetings and exchange via e-mail and thus contributed greatly to both project results’ added-value.In order to carry the build-up stakeholder networks into the future, a sustainability strategy was set up that outlines concrete steps that need to be undertaken by all partners to guarantee an impactful continuation of the project results.<< Results >>PR1 - Public Entrepreneurship Digital Learning ProgrammeThe training program’s methodology was not only designed for individual learners, but also for use in the educational sector. It outlines how teachers and trainers can make use of the public:START materials. Vocational education providers and other educators can use the learning components to accompany a course that upskills public sector employees. Due to the provision of digital materials, the programme is also suitable to support online or blended-learning environments and promotes self-directed learning.PR2 public:START - On-the-Job Learning ToolIn total, the on-the-job learning tool encompasses 63 interactive educational resources in the form of learning nuggets and practical examples that are spread evenly over 12 phases of a conceptual ‘complexity map’ that depicts the non-linear process of managing complex challenges. In this way, public sector employees are able to understand the dynamics of complex challenges step-by-step and manage them according to their own needs.