Perception on innovation in different levels of government in Romania

According to Eurobarometer 2012, the representatives of the Romanian business environment assert the need for innovation of the public sector as a catalyst of the public value increment. 

The success of the private companies is mostly generated by their capacity to create and develop innovative services, beneficial for their products consumers’ life. On the other hand, when it comes to the services provided by the public sector, their economic impact is not measurable on short-time. Actually, many times these services are not even visible due to their nature (public administration, health, education, public politics). Nevertheless, the benefits provided to the public by the state’s institutions and authorities can be expressed through the concept of public value, developed and defined by Mark Moore (professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, author of the study “Creating Public value”) as follows: 

• The public value is created when the institutions of the state use financial resources and the authority vested in them to produce goods beneficial for the individuals. 

• The public value is created when the institutions of the state  answer the expectations of  the citizens and elected officials, in terms of being responsible for the manner they perform their activity (effective, correct, open, and responsible)  

Is it possible for the public sector innovation to generate public value?

The results of the Eurobarometer related to “Innovation in public sector: perception and impact on the business environment” (published in June 2012) indicate a positive conclusion. 

The outcome of the study shows that, at European level, the public perception is that the experience of public services has improved after innovating services were implemented and that the improvement has been generated by innovation. The conclusion of the study is that there is a high demand for innovating services on the public services market. 

27% of Romanian people, who answered the questionnaire, think that since 2009, there has been an improvement of the public services while 24% think that the public services have worsened.

Among the branches of the public sector, the local public administration is considered to be the most innovative, ranking above the public services provided by the European Community or by the national public authorities.

The innovations most acknowledged by the survey participants are: the improved access to the information related to public services (57%), the possibility to fill in online templates (47%), and less time and effort for filling them in (34%).    

These results refer only to the perception the representatives of private companies towards the  public services innovations. Also, an extensive study needs to be carried out on the perception of the citizens, as they are in the end, the majority of the end users of these services. 

Let's innovate the public sector!

Yet , the results of Eurobarometer confirm the requirement for an intensive and constant approach concerning the innovation of the public activities, the methods of interacting and communicating with the citizens, requirement also supported by the present perception of the activities performed by the state authorities. 

Innovation in the public sector involves computerization, optimization of the working processes through innovation technologies, continuous adjustment to the changes occurring in the communication channels and tools, as well as continuous adapting the image of the public institutions to the realities and needs of the XXI century citizens. 

This innovation should not only contribute to the public value but also might have an economic impact (by reduced costs and more effective activities) on the evolution of the living standard of the citizens, both in the short term and in the long term