DBEI Innovation Week:

A Case Study

Breda O’Brien, Chair of the Innovation Culture Group

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Introduction

Role of DBEI in innovation

The vision1 of the Department of Business, Enterprise & Innovation (DBEI) is

to make Ireland the best place to succeed in business, delivering sustainable

full employment and higher standards of living across all regions of the

country.

One of our key goals to deliver on this vision is to lead a whole-of-

Government approach to position Ireland as a Global Innovation Leader,

driving an internationally competitive research and development system,

creating an innovative enterprise base and building a better society.

While our approach and strategy - Innovation 2020 - is primarily focussed on

enterprise innovation, there is much that can be shared in terms of best

practise and approach with the broader Civil and Public Sector. In this

context Dr Orlaigh Quinn, DBEI Secretary General and Julie Sinnamon, CEO

of our Innovation Agency, Enterprise Ireland, are leading on Action 6 of Our

Public Service 2020 which aims to Promote a Culture of Innovation in the

Public Service. This is being done through the Action 6 Team, chaired by

DBEI and made up of representatives from across the Civil and Public

Service.

Developing a culture of innovation in DBEI

Another key goal for DBEI to deliver on our vision is to invest in our staff to

further enhance individual and collective capacity. It is vital for all staff to be

equipped optimally to respond to public and stakeholder expectations and

to drive Government policy and developing the innovative capacity of both

the Department and its staff is a core element of this as we face increasingly

complex challenges.

1 DBEI Statement of Strategy 2018-2021

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In engaging with staff in response to the 2015 Civil Service Employee

Engagement Survey 2015, Innovative Climate was identified as a priority

area for the Department. This led to the establishment of an ‘innovation

working group’ tasked with enhancing the environment for innovation

within DBEI. This group operated within the umbrella of a broader ‘New

Ways of Working’ initiative in the Department – designed to deliver change

across a number of areas. The innovation sub- group was made up of

enthusiastic volunteers, eager to embed a culture of innovation across the

Department. The sub-group decided the best vehicle would be a DBEI

Innovation Week which they then designed and delivered, the details of

which are outlined in this Case Study.

As a result of this programme’s success, the ‘New Ways of Working’

initiative has been rebranded as dbeinnovation, to further embed among

staff the sense that collective problem-solving and the spearheading of new

initiatives are part of what make up a culture of innovation within the

Department.

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DBEI Innovation Week 2019 In January 2019 the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) delivered its first innovation week where a concentrated focus on innovation, under the banner of a ‘DBEI Innovation Week’, drew significant attention and focus on innovation, its many forms, and how staff could partake in innovative-thinking and collaboration. DBEI Innovation Week consisted of the following elements:

• Launch of Ideas Call;

• Innovation Talk Series;

• Innovation Articles on DBEI’s Intranet;

• DBEI 'Hackathon' Event; and

• Innovative Ideas Finale Event - elevator pitches and winners

announced.

A guiding principle for the development of Innovation Week was to ensure

staff were able to engage in, and access innovation in a number of diverse

ways. Some people were ready and eager to put forward a proposal for the

Ideas Call. Others liked to participate in the Hackathon, a first for the Civil

Service, where colleagues from different departments, offices and agencies,

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at different grades with diverse experiences ‘hacked’ current DBEI

challenges in an effort to find and refine solutions.

Other colleagues were more comfortable attending one of the many

Innovation “Tea Talks” or reading one of the inspiring innovation-themed

articles on DBEI’s intranet. And at the Innovation Week Finale Event we

were inspired by colleagues pitching their ideas.

A key objective of Innovation Week was to ensure that there was something

for everyone, regardless of where they were on their Innovation journey.

Delivery Team and Project Plan

The Innovation Week project was delivered by a small group of DBEI staff

who had volunteered to be part of an innovation group, a sub-group of

DBEI’s then New Ways of Working Steering Committee. The Project

benefited from two co-leads which allowed for flexibility and collaboration.

The Project Team consisted of staff from a number of DBEI buildings which

enabled local ‘Innovation Week Champions’ which was key to the success of

the project. A strong local ambassador who can champion the activities and

messages is strongly recommended to other colleagues considering a similar

project.

It was a challenge, though, as a voluntary group, to deliver Innovation Week

and its various elements to such a high standard and consequently it did

require a core cohort of the group to work evenings and weekends to

ensure successful delivery. It is recommended that delivery of projects of

this scale should be delivered by a mix of volunteers and staff who have

been assigned to deliver the task as part of their formal role.

In addition, DBEI’s Learning and Development Unit and other colleagues

assisted in various programme elements.

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The Innovation Week Project was carried out in the following four phases:

The programme concept was devised in late August 2018 and Innovation

Week activities kicked off on 7 January 2019. This was a very short amount

of time to deliver a project of this scale but as the Project Team consisted of

volunteers it was decided that it would be riskier to delay Innovation Week

because priorities can change, promotions happen etc., so could potentially

affect membership of the Team. Another very important consideration in

DBEI was Brexit and it was felt that Innovation Week activities should be

early in the year as not to conflict with the departure of the UK from the EU.

Ideas Call

DBEI’s first Innovation Week programme evolved so ambitiously that it

outgrew the ‘week’ and effectively became Innovation Month. The Ideas

Call kicked off our activities on 7 January and resulted in a groundswell of

ideas, 118 in number from 76 colleagues throughout the Department.

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The criteria for assessing ideas was on the following basis:

• How innovative: How ingenious, inventive and leading-edge the idea

is.

• How impactful: How dynamic, effective and implementable the idea is

in solving a problem or creating efficiencies.

Ideas Call and Application Form

As Innovation Week was a new endeavour we had no idea how many

proposals would be received and therefore believed it was important not to

be too prescriptive or limiting in terms of criteria or categorisation in the call

process.

Colleagues were asked to submit their ideas on an application form and in

addition to the details of the idea, they were asked to predict the impact of

the idea plus the resources needed to develop their idea. We were keen to

convey that idea generation was just one part of the process of innovation

and that several other elements such as resources, impact and

communicating the idea were also key to successful innovation.

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The following video2 was used in the promotion of the Call for Ideas.

The top ten ideas were shortlisted, and finalists were invited to make a pitch

at the Finale event. The shortlisting team consisted of three people from the

Innovation Sub-group plus the Assistant Secretary of Corporate Affairs and

the Head of IT.

Feedback has been provided to all those who submitted ideas and the vast

majority of ideas outside of the top ten are also being considered by POs in

the relevant areas for implementation where appropriate and possible. Our

Innovation Group will engage with these POs regarding the feasibility of

implementing ideas and will monitor progress with a view to reporting back

to the Steering Committee chaired by the Secretary General.

Hackathon

The DBEI Hackathon, a first for the Civil Service, and facilitated by the DCU

Ryan Academy brought together 80 colleagues from DBEI and 15 other

departments, offices and agencies (see Appendix 1) on 21 January.

Given the cost associated with the Hackathon a dedicated budget was

secured from Learning and Development (L&D) - in the context of the 18-

month L&D Programme approved by Management Board in early January,

“innovation” was included as a priority area which facilitated funding the

Hackathon.

Ten groups hacked themes devised by our Management Board including

how DBEI can gain more influence and support for our policy priorities

across the Government system; how can we better collaborate to share

corporate knowledge and experience in the context of succession planning;

2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm1AV2GKfSs&feature=youtu.be

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and how can we improve stakeholder engagement in particular to better

inform design of policy and supports for business.

Winning Hackathon Team

The outcome of the deliberations of the ten groups has been collated with a

view to considering what ideas or aspects of ideas could be implemented in

relevant policy areas of the Department. The following video3 sums up the

live innovation experience.

Like all projects, Innovation Week activities were novel and prior learning

was therefore not available, so the Project Team made efforts to reduce risk

where possible. The Hackathon and Finale events were purposely not

programmed in the same week so to avoid taking out large numbers of staff

in the one week.

Another risk reducing measure in relation to the Hackathon was the method

of participation adopted. Instead of a general open call for participants and

3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKkIYa7bbh0&feature=youtu.be

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possibly run the risk of people not turning up, Assistant Secretaries sought

volunteers and/or nominated staff to take part. Through the Public Sector

Leadership Board, DBEI Secretary General, Dr Orlaigh Quinn also sought

nominations for participants from across the Public Service. The diversity of

participation was key to the success of the Hackathon.

DBEI Hackathon Judging Panel

Tea Talks

The Innovation Week “Tea Talks” programme, designed to inspire and

introduce a variety of innovative concepts, got underway on 25 January and

ran over 5 days in most of our Department buildings. The programme

boasted an impressive list of 12 speakers including our own Minister for

Innovation, Minister Halligan. The talks were Ted-style in nature and the 15-

minute inspirational talks were programmed just after lunch at 13:45 each

day so they didn’t disrupt the work of business units.

Sonya Lennon, TV Presenter and social entrepreneur told us about the LIFT

Initiative while Brigitta O’Doherty, Dept. of Defence talked about her

department’s use of project management to facilitate innovation. Fergal

Brophy, UCD Innovation Academy ran an interactive and energetic session

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about mixing and matching ideas and Dr Frank Devitt from Maynooth

University generously gave two talks that provided for an insight into design-

thinking and was very useful in demonstrating alternative methods as a

vehicle to innovate. Marguerite Bourke from Enterprise Ireland

demonstrated how tapping into innovative SMEs can solve departmental

challenges. DPER’s Mai Santamaria gave an interesting talk on Blockchain

and Martin McKenna, Head of Operations in Bank of Ireland told us about

his experience of using Artificial Intelligence as a way to improve document

processing and fraud monitoring.

Innovation Week “Tea Talk” Speakers

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Innovation Articles on DBEI Intranet

Over 27 innovation-themed articles were posted to the Department’s

Intranet in the run-up to, and during Innovation Week. In fact, articles are

still being posted. These articles outlined inspiring stories of innovation in

the public service, profiled speakers and promoted Innovation Week

activities. The articles provided a bounce to the analytics of the intranet and

so we can assume colleagues enjoyed them.

Innovation Week Finale Event at the Foundry in Google on 1 February

Our Finale event saw the culmination of the month’s focus on innovation in

the Department where staff had the opportunity to collaborate, be creative

and curious, and develop and communicate their innovative ideas.

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Top 3 ideas: Yvonne Kennedy, First Runner Up; Fergal Cullen, Second Runner Up;

and Overall Winners: Tracy Fitzpatrick, Kieran Harrington and Rob Walsh.

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The top ten ideas were shortlisted, and finalists were invited to pitch their ideas at the Finale Event. The Foundry was emblazoned with our Innovation Week branding, artwork and most importantly, pictures of our top ten finalists and their ideas. In addition to DBEI staff, colleagues from 15 other departments and agencies (see Appendix 1) attended the Finale, 250 people in total!

The Finale event also featured a feedback report of the Hackathon and separately Anne Byrne from the GovLab in Deloitte and Anthony Nakache, Director of Online Partnerships in Google, provided their perspectives on innovation.

In addition, the DBEI Secretary General, Dr Orlaigh Quinn moderated a panel

discussion on civil and public sector innovation, with contributions from Vice

Admiral Mark Mellett, Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, John McKeon,

Secretary General Dept. of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and

Gearoid Mooney, Research and Innovation Divisional Manager, Enterprise

Ireland, who all demonstrated successful examples of innovation, the

requirement to innovate and also the challenges we face innovating in the

public sphere.

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Innovation Week Finale: Ronan Connolly and Ciara Drohan, event MCs; Karen

Dowling facilitating Hackathon feedback; and Dr Orlaigh Quinn moderating a

session on public sector innovation.

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The Secretary General then took to the stage to announce the winners,

voted for via the phone app Sli.do.

A video of the Innovation Week Finale highlights can be viewed here4.

Communications and Branding

Communications

The purpose Innovation Week’s communications efforts was to deliver a

communications strategy to raise awareness of, and encourage participation

in the DBEI Innovation Week, including the DBEI Ideas Call and the DBEI

Hackathon.

Initially, this was done through the launch of the Ideas Call in January. The

DBEI Hackathon was the next major communications milestone and the

concentration of communications activity in the lead up to, and culminate in

the DBEI Innovation Week itself, which was launched on 28 January 2019,

with the final event taking place on Friday 1 February at The Foundry at

Google Headquarters. The goal ultimately was to encourage staff to engage

with Innovation Week and inspire colleagues to innovate in their workplace

– whether it’s a new working practice that adds value, a new policy idea or

perhaps a new way to engage their stakeholders.

Branding

The Project Team developed its own branding and it was used alongside the

Department branding in all communications with staff to ensure brand

coherence and to differentiate the group’s communications efforts.

4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jddTK2uDwN0&feature=youtu.be

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The chosen tagline – “Innovation, it’s our business” accompanies the logo in

all communications and promotional material.

DBEI Innovation branding

Various tools were used including posters in all buildings of the department,

stories of current innovation being carried out by DBEI and other

departments on the Intranet and promotional videos and emails.

Posters developed

to promote the

Ideas Call

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Buy-In!

One of the key work streams for the project was securing the buy-in from

colleagues and management. This of course was just the beginning of

deepening the innovation culture within the Department and like all step-

changes in culture it will require time and commitment to bring everyone

along in the journey.

The DBEI Secretary General, Dr Orlaigh Quinn and Assistant Secretary

Pauline Mulligan were strong champions for Innovation Week which sent a

strong message to Management Board and throughout the organisation of

the commitment to deepening innovation in the Department.

Papers were circulated, and presentations were given to the New Ways of

Working Steering Committee and Management Board which ensured buy-in

and was important for awareness raising.

As mentioned previously, the Project Team members themselves were key

ambassadors to securing buy-in and promoting the programme of events

with colleagues.

Next Steps

Some of the ideas from Innovation Week have been implemented or are in

the process of being implemented. Some of the ideas will need further

consideration and action by PO areas in the Department.

It has been a really important part of Innovation Week to engage with

people who submitted ideas and to provide feedback, whether it’s positive

that their idea will be considered for implementation or indeed if their idea

was not going to be pursued and the reasons why.

Maintaining the momentum built up around innovation is seen as the next

challenge. To support this effort the Department has decided to adopt the

dbeinnovation logo and brand to replace the previous New Ways of Working

effort in the Department. This is a significant first step as it demonstrates

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the Department’s commitment to further embedding a culture of

innovation.

Finally, a survey of staff will issue shortly to get staff feedback on Innovation

Week to understand what worked and what didn’t work and to help inform

how we can continue to support staff in investigating and managing/driving

change to improve how we can do what we do.

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Appendix 1: Participation from outside DBEI

Representatives from the following organisations participated in the

Hackathon:

• Defence Forces

• Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

• Department of Defence

• Department of Education

• Department of Finance

• Department of Health

• Department of Justice and Equality

• Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

• Enterprise Ireland

• An Garda Síochána

• Health and Safety Authority

• Personal Injuries Assessment Board

• Local Government Management Agency

• National Doctors Training and Planning

• National Standards Authority of Ireland

• Science Foundation Ireland

Representatives from the following organisations were invited to attend the

Finale Event:

• An Garda Síochána

• Courts Service

• Defence Forces

• Deloitte

• Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

• Department of Defence

• Department of Education and Skills

• Department of Employment and Social Protection

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• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

• Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

• Department of Justice and Equality

• Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

• Department of the Taoiseach

• Enterprise Ireland

• Health and Safety Authority

• Health Service Executive

• Higher Education Authority

• Local Government Management Agency

• National Doctors Training & Planning

• National Standards Authority of Ireland

• Personal Injuries Assessment Board

• Science Foundation Ireland

• Smart Docklands

• UCD

• Workplace Relations Commission

• Labour Court