Public sector innovations and productivity

At the Ministry of Finance, we cooperate with agencies, institutions, municipalities and governments of other countries in order to share innovations. Public sector innovation is a key work area of the OECD's OPSI team.

OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

Read the Innovation Declaration of Finland's central government

Finland adopted the OECD Declaration on Public Sector Innovation together with the other OECD countries at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on 22 May 2019. The aim of the Innovation Declaration is to strengthen innovation in the core functions of administration as part of the daily lives of organisations and public officials.

Finland is committed to the five principles of the Declaration on Public Sector Innovations:

  • We embrace and enhance innovation within the public sector
  • We encourage and equip all public servants to innovate
  • We cultivate new partnerships and involve different voices
  • We support exploration, iteration and testing
  • We diffuse lessons and share practices

Join the innovation network

The Ministry of Finance's Public Governance Department is spreading the results of the OECD’s work in an informal innovation network. The network is open to everyone and consists of public administration operators that are currently involved in innovative activities. The aim of the network is to learn from others and share good practices.

Join the innovation network by contacting [email protected]

Read about the OECD OPSI team’s studies, materials and opportunities

OPSI study

OPSI tools

International innovation examples collected by OPSI

OPSI seeks out examples of public sector innovations each year through a Call For Innovations. Read about the search and register your innovation on the OPSI website.

OPSI

Improving productivity

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for the general development of public administration. Promoting productivity and efficiency is part of this responsibility. In the Government Action Plan, objective 2 of the section ‘Finland as a sustainable economy’ states that, given normal global economic circumstances, general government finances will be in balance in 2023.

The objective of improving productivity is to develop processes and procedures in public administration in a way that speeds up processes, reduces working hours, improves the quality of activities and enhances customer impact. Improvement also means seeking synergies and reducing duplication between different administrative branches and people, and ensuring that management and guidance structures support effective action. For example, productivity can be improved through centralised support services for state administration.

In order to improve the productivity of public administration procedures, the Ministry of Finance, together with other ministries, has carried out productivity analyses to identify areas which could benefit from improved productivity and digitalisation. Productivity analyses are part of the curbing of public sector costs included in the General Government Fiscal Plan for 2019 –2022. Identifying areas for digitalisation and productivity improvement aims to produce benefits for both organisations and society at large.

Contact information

Ira Alanko
Senior Specialist
Tel. +358 2955 30353
firstname.lastname(at)gov.fi

Eeva Kaunismaa
Ministerial Adviser
Tel. +358 2955 30103
firstname.lastname(at)gov.fi

Matti Kuivalainen
Senior Specialist
Tel. +358 2955 30344
firstname.lastname(at)gov.fi