This article is written by Abeer Tahlak, Director of the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Government Innovation and Director of Possibilities at the Ministry of Possibilities, UAE.

  • The problem: Some governments internationally have been slow to embrace innovation, making them less capable of quickly adapting to the challenges of the future.

  • Why it matters: Agility and innovation are critical facets of resilient governments that fulfil their functions of protecting citizens, providing services and improving quality of life.

  • The solution: A new model of governance that champions innovation and knowledge exchanges.

If the last few years have shown anything, it is that governments around the world need to be more prepared for unpredictable crises – whether it is pandemics, climate disasters, or geopolitical disputes.

We are in a new era today where a government’s success is defined not only by its ability to serve citizens with basic services but also by its resilience, agility and future readiness.

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Achieving a state of future readiness is easier said than done. Creating new public sector models means taking risks and breaking away from legacy systems. Nevertheless, it is critical that members of the international community proactively work to upgrade and reshape government models if we are to collectively meet future challenges.

A case study from the UAE

As a young and agile country, the UAE was well positioned over the last two decades to become one of the first movers to test new models of governance that are well-equipped for the 21st century. We hope that our learnings will support countries with more deeply entrenched systems and lower risk appetites to future-proof their governance models.

We are well aware that to support economic growth, social progress and national development on a global scale, we need global collaboration.

One of the ways in which the government has aimed to drive innovation at the federal level is through the appointment of a dedicated Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) in every federal agency – almost 50. These CIOs were mandated to push departments to deliver ambitious projects and were responsible for spending 1% of the UAE’s government budget on fostering innovation.

Driving change from within organisations is inherently challenging, especially in large government entities with multiple stakeholders. However, the very act of creating the CIO positions indicates a strong will to continually challenge the status quo and embrace change. In fact, many of our CIOs have been successful in delivering innovation projects – some modest and others transformative.

Collaboration is key

We found the most successful projects to be those that won the backing of multiple teams, underlining the notion that while game-changing innovation can be sparked by a moment of individual inspiration, it ultimately requires connections, knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Partnerships are at the heart of the work of the Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation (MBRCGI), an organisation responsible for driving public sector innovation efforts by stimulating and enriching the culture of innovation in government.

We have worked with an array of academic institutions, businesses and governments around the world. With the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) we published several reports mapping public sector innovation globally and shaping conversations on the future of governance. Advised by our Global Innovation Council, we commissioned reports on forward-looking topics such as anticipatory public budgeting and household sector innovation.

Another future-focused initiative is MBRCGI’s Edge of Government experience, which challenges people to think in new and often counter-intuitive ways about how to solve the most pressing public challenges of our time. This experience showcases case studies from around the world to local and global audiences.

Further, our Ibtekr awareness campaign has engaged thousands of federal and local government employees in promoting innovation within the public sector. These initiatives have helped us to become regarded as a thought leader and a global facilitator of government innovation.

Embracing emerging tech

Our government’s commitment to tackling the difficult challenges of a fast-changing world is reflected in the creation of dedicated government entities, such as the Artificial Intelligence Office, tasked with proposing policies to harness the immense power of AI while safeguarding the public interest, for example, producing the recent guidelines on generative AI. The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) is the world’s first independent regulator for virtual assets, providing a space of dialogue between the public and private sectors to come up with effective regulation in the fast-changing world of digital assets. RegLab was an initiative created to enable regulatory innovation in a global regulatory landscape that struggles to keep up with the pace of technological development. The lab has already resulted in new licensing agreements, for instance, for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles. The Dubai Future Foundation and the iconic Museum of the Future provide a global platform to explore emerging trends and build foresight capabilities in both the public and private sectors.

In my interaction with other governments, I often get asked about the Ministry of Possibilities. In many ways, it marked a symbolic turning point in our innovation journey by signalling that there was a space within government to tackle issues that would have been difficult for entities to address on their own. We started by demonstrating the value of proactive government services, for example, on childbirth registration, and we just recently launched a global challenge on affordable housing.

But perhaps the greatest indicator of the maturity of our innovation ecosystem was the creation of Government Accelerators. One way to describe this programme is that it temporarily inverts the hierarchy of government: it is staff on the frontline (regardless of which entity they belong to, and including private sector partners) who determine the target they can achieve within 100-day sprints. The accelerators’ framework creates the authorising environment for them to take initiative, collaborate across silos and take calculated risks they would otherwise unlikely consider. This resulted in very tangible results in areas as diverse as traffic accidents and trade agreements. The Government Accelerators have become an initiative we are exporting globally, including, most recently, through a partnership with the WHO. In addition, the UAE is currently the Chair of the Agile Nations working group, gathering governments interested in exploring the future of regulation and emerging tech.

Naturally, we are delighted to see more and more international partners approaching us. UAE Innovation Month this year drew participation from a number of global partners, suggesting we have built an internationally recognised, globally competitive and mature innovation ecosystem.

As much as we are pleased with these results, we know that we still have a number of challenges ahead of us to continue the journey from imagination and inspiration to real-world impact for the citizens of the UAE. This is why MBRCGI is now embarking on a new chapter of our innovation journey. Moving forward, we will be exploring questions such as:

  • How can we harness innovation to provide strategic intelligence to our leadership – and eventually the global community – on pressing societal, economic and environmental issues in a context of greater uncertainty?

  • How can we multiply the effects of innovations by embracing platform models that scale the ability to solve across government?

  • How can we generate a constant flow of possibilities by accelerating the imagination to impact cycle?

We are well aware that to support economic growth, social progress and national development on a global scale, we need global collaboration. If you or your entity are also exploring similar questions, we ask you to reach out. We are eager to share our learning journey with others and move towards a better future together.

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