Back in BC. Hurrah. It is wonderful to live in another city and part of what it does is make you appreciate home. I have a back-log of blog topics. Think I’ll start with MindLab and Christian Bason. Christian was my last meeting in Copenhagen and a good one.
MindLab is amazing. http://www.mind-lab.dk/en
From their website:
MindLab is a cross-ministerial innovation unit which involves citizens and businesses in creating new solutions for society. We are also a physical space – a neutral zone for inspiring creativity, innovation and collaboration. We work with the civil servants in our three parent ministries: the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the Ministry of Taxation and the Ministry of Employment. These three ministries cover broad policy areas that affect the daily lives of virtually all Danes. Entrepreneurship, climate change, digital self-service, citizen’s rights, emplyment services and workplace safety are some of the areas they address.
Listening to Christian is inspiring. He has written a book called Leading Public Sector Innovation based on his experiences at MindLab. I’ve just ordered the book so haven’t yet read it. When I was in government we tapped into some of the innovation work that was happening at the time in the UK. The idea of having a “mindlab” within government makes so much sense. I can imagine creating a lab in MetroVancouver to serve local government and, of course, one in Victoria would be great.
Christian has also visited Ottawa recently to work with the Canadian Government on public service innovation — you can find a video of his talk and his slides online here:
http://www.horizons.gc.ca/page.asp?pagenm=2011_0061_VID_Bason
I’ll be blogging more about this because thanks to Al Etmanski Christian will be visiting Vancouver in October. More info to come.
Well done Cristina! Seems all is great for you in your teaching cerear. So happy for you! Hope to see you soon I was thinking first weekend in December. xo Talk to you soon.