Research colloquium: Agile and Digital Governance

In the summer semester 2024, Prof. Mergel will offer an online research colloquium together with other international researchers: Agile and Digital Governance. The colloquium will take place every Monday at 12:30 - 2:00 pm via Zoom. Registration for the colloquium is not required.

Zusammenfassung Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced as one of the most prominent technological innovations to push the conversation about the digital transformation of the public sector forward. This special issue focuses on actual implementation approaches or challenges that public managers are facing while they fulfil new policy that asks for the implementation of AI in public administrations. In addition to assessing the contributions of papers in this issue, we also provide a research agenda on how future research can fill some of the methodological, theoretical, and application gaps in the public management literature.

New Publication: Implementing AI in the public sector.

New publication from  Mergel, I., Dickinson, H., Stenvall, J., & Gasco, M. (2023). Implementing AI in the public sector. Public Management Review, in press, 1-13.

The publication can be found here.

Zusammenfassung Digital transformation has become a buzzword that is permeating multiple fields, including public administration and management. However, it is unclear what is transformational and how incremental and transformational change processes are linked. Using the PRISMA method, we conduct a systematic literature review to structure this growing body of evidence. We identified 164 studies on digitally-induced change and provide evidence for their drivers, implementation processes, and outcomes. We derive a theoretical framework that shows which incremental changes happen in public administrations that are implementing digital technologies and what their cumulative, transformative effects are on society as a whole.

New publication: Digitally-induced change in the public sector: a systematic review and research agenda

New publication from Haug, Nathalie, Dan, Sorin, & Mergel, Ines (2023): Digitally-induced change in the public sector: a systematic review and research agenda, Public Management Review, 1-25. The publication can be found here.

New publication: Implementing successful innovation fellowships in the administration

The new publication by Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel, Nathalie Haug, Valerie Albrecht,
Almire Brahimi, Dr. Noella Edelmann, Dr. Nassrin Hajinejad, Ines Hölscher, Jana Plomindes: "Erfolgreiche Innovationsfellowships in der Verwaltung umsetzen" by Kompetenzzentrums Öffentliche IT (ÖFIT) is available online.

Welcome to the pages of
Digital Governance Labs at the University of Konstanz

Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel is Professor of Public Administration - Digital Governance at the University of Konstanz. Prof. Mergel's research focuses in particular on management and technology processes in innovative public management practices. Current projects include digital transformation, open innovation, big data and the use of in-house social networking technologies in the public sector.

Innovative Verwaltung. Change Leadership macht den Unterschied.

New publication: Agile competencies for the
Digitalization of public administration

What skills do civil servants need for the digitalization of public administration? Prof. Dr. Ines Mergel, Almire Brahimi & Stefanie Hecht have identified the necessary skills and ideas for implementation in the new issue of the specialist publication Innovative Verwaltung.

To the article.

Open Public Administration
Scholarship

Research-based teaching content from the Mergel working group is published on OPAS.

Agile: A New Way of Governing

A new article by Prof. Dr. Mergel, Prof. Dr. Ganapati and Prof. Dr. Andrew B. Whitford has been published in the Public Administration Review. This paper presents potential applications of modern agility in public administration and discusses possible challenges that may arise when implementing agility in public administration.

A new international project to teach digital skills in public administration has been launched:

Digital specialist Professor Ines Mergel from the University of Konstanz is a founding member. Experts from ten institutions - including the universities of Cambridge and Harvard - are developing an open access curriculum to support current and future administrators and managers

International Conference Call for Papers: Innovation in Public Services and Public Policy (PUBSIC)

Call for Paper for International Conference on Innovation Public Services and Public Policy (PUBSIC) in Lillehammer, Norway.

15 – 17 November 2017

Lillehammer University College, Norway

Keynote speakers

Sandford Borins, University of Toronto
Stephen Osborne, University of Edinburgh

Lillehammer is easily accessible by a direct train from Oslo Airport – which has excellent air travel connections across the world.

Innovation is often articulated as a panacea for addressing social and economic problems in the modern world. However; the models of innovation for public services that are posed in this context have often drawn from private sector experience in an undifferentiated way that conflates the manufacturing of products with the delivery of services, and have not taken into account the distinctive characteristics of public rather than private services.

In recent years, however, public management theory on innovation has begun to evolve, with an important body of knowledge on public service delivery emerging – for example, there was a special issue of Public Management Review devoted to public service innovation in 2014, whilst a major research programme of the European Commission on social innovation has recently been concluded (LIPSE). Important international conferences sponsored by IRSPM were also held in Shanghai and in Budapest in 2015.

Call for papers

To continue this dialogue and to build upon this evolving body of knowledge we would invite you to participate in the Public and Social Innovation Conference (PUBSIC 2017), to be held at Lillehammer University College in Norway over 15-17 November 2017. Lillehammer University College is leading the development of public and social innovation research in Norway with the support of the Norwegian Research Council and with excellent links into Norwegian public service delivery.

The International Advisory Board invites abstract proposals across the following themes:

Abstract proposals, to a maximum of 500 words, should be submitted by 15th May 2017. For more information on the proposal submission process, see the conference webpage konferanser.hil.no/pubsic/ . Panel proposals are also welcome, within one of the suggested themes. A panel is 3 – 4 connected papers and a proposal should be of maximum 1,000 words and include an overview of the panel topic (500 words) and a summary of the papers within the panel (500 words). All abstracts and panels will be reviewed by the International Advisory Board and decisions notified to lead authors by 9th June. Papers are welcome from both experienced and new/doctoral students and of both an empirical and theoretical nature.

 All conference papers will be considered for fast track review to Public Management Review (PMR) and also possibly for a special issue of PMR, if there are sufficient papers of the requisite quality.

International Advisory Board

Rolf Rønning [Co-Chair] (Lillehammer University College), Stephen P Osborne [Co-Chair] (University of Edinburgh), Gyorgy Drótos (Corvinus University, Budapest), Ricardo Gomez (University of Brasilia), Jean Hartley (Open University), Yijia Jing (Fudan University, Shanghai), Albert Meijer (University of Utrecht),  Ines Mergel (University of Konstanz), Greta Nasi (Bocconi University, Milan) Madeline Powell (University of Sheffield), Eva Sørenson (Roskilde University), and Richard Walker (City University of Hong Kong).

For further information on PUBSIC contact Rolf Ronning – rolf.ronning@hil.no