Digicampus - Preliminary lessons from a quadruple helix ecosystem for public service innovation

Abstract

Many governments want to harness the potential of new digital technologies for shaping an progressive and inclusive society. However, they often struggle to translate their ambitions into reality. Drawing on the quadruple helix model, Digicampus is an innovation ecosystem in the Netherlands in which government, academia, citizens and companies explore future public services. Since the launch of Digicampus, more than hundred requests for collaboration were submitted by public organizations. The objective of this ongoing research paper is to share the experiences of starting a quadruple helix ecosystem for public service innovation. We do this by discussing the innovation guidelines, research agenda and lessons learned in the first year of Digicampus. Important innovation guidelines are: embrace design thinking and an agile way of working, facilitate multidisciplinary knowledge exchange, co-create prototypes (make technologies tangible) and foster open experimentation (assess the potential). Other countries looking to explore future public services in a collaborative manner can benefit from the insights presented in this paper.