Innovation

We stand at a pivotal moment in space exploration. There are plans to further extend our reach into the solar system, and NASA is leading the way.  An orbiting outpost, the International Space Station (ISS), is home to a crew of astronauts from across the world conducting research and learning how to live and work in space.

Successful inventions often spring from the minds of individual inventors – we often think of Thomas Edison at the classic inventor. But successful innovation is a team sport, according to a new Harvard Business Review article by a team of researchers – Linda Hill, Greg Brandeau, Emily Truelove, and Kent Lineback.

We are pleased to announce our latest round of awards for new reports on key public sector challenges, which respond to priorities identified in the Center's long-term research agenda, see businessofgovernment.org/content/research-stipends.

We expect the following reports to be published in early 2015.  Details of each report are included in the below short summaries.

John Kamensky

OMB Updates Performance.gov.  OMB posted third quarter performance progress updates for cross-agency and agency-specific priority goals on performance.gov.  In an accompanying blog post, OMB director Shawn Donovan highlights some specific accomplishments.

Innovation offices are being established by many governments—including cities (Austin, Philadelphia, Chicago), states (Maryland, Colorado, and Pennsylvania), and federal agencies (NARA, HHS, State Department). But not all offices are organized in the same way, and not all have the same mission or metrics. A new report, “A Guide for Making Innovation Offices Work,”by Rachel Burstein and Alissa Black detail how these various innovation groups fall into structural categories and how their success metrics map to their missions.

Dan Chenok Big Data continues to make its presence known. Perspectives on the current impact of the cyber threat landscape. Contract Management Association leader discusses how procurement complexity impacts managers. John Kamensky A New Undersecretary for Management at Defense.

My goal in blogging has been to provide context, insight, and inspiration on government management challenges for public sector managers, especially at the U.S. federal level. Following are blog posts from the past year organized around several themes, largely reflecting the trends reflected in the IBM Center’s research agenda. Hope you find this useful!

The Center for The Business of Government continues to support reports by leading thinkers on key issues affecting government today. We are pleased to announce our latest round of awards for new reports on key public sector challenges, which respond to priorities identified in the Center's long-term research agenda, see businessofgovernment.org/content/research-stipends. We expect the following reports to be published later in 2015. Short summaries of each report are included below.

The Rise of Shadow IT. According to Government Computer News, “Nearly three-quarters of IT security professionals are unaware of the amount of “shadow IT” within their organizations, according to a recent survey by the Cloud Security Alliance. . . .