We need more of this. Not clear how to get there, though... Public sector, disrupted: How disruptive innovation can help government achieve more for less http://CAMod.org/2012/01/public-sector-disrupted-how-disruptive-innovation-can-help-government-achieve-more-for-less/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=public-sector-disrupted-how-disruptive-innovation-can-help-government-achieve-more-for-less
In the wake of the deep austerity facing most governments around the western world, we hear a steady refrain from politicians and pundits to “do more with less.” Unfortunately, budget cutting, typically an exercise in using the blunt instrument of across-the-board cuts, is more about “doing more of the same, but with less money.” The inevitable result however tends not to be more for less but less for less. This paper proposes an alternative path: a way to use innovation to make public programs radically cheaper without slashing services; a way to break the seemingly unavoidable trade-off between paying more or getting less. The key to doing this is through disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovations start out less good but cheaper than the market leaders, but then break the trade-off between price and performance by getting better, and typically even cheaper, over time. Disruptive innovation puts the lie to the traditional notion that you always have to pay more to get more. In sectors of the economy where disruptive innovation is commonplace, consumers are accustomed to steady price reductions and performance improvements over time — think of computing, electronics, steel manufacturing, and telecommunications. In sectors with little or no disruptive innovation, by contrast, costs and prices generally rise over time. Government, with double-digit cost increases from health care to education to defense, is particularly conspicuous in this respect. By breaking seemingly immutable trade-offs, disruptive innovation offers a potentially powerful tool for radically reducing costs in the public sector while maintaining or improving services. (via Instapaper) Sent from my iPhone -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
