Administrative Capacity-Building (FR0038)

Opening the administration to new skills and supporting the Government’s open innovation initiatives
Lead institution(s):
Minister of State for the Digital Sector, attached to the Prime Minister
Other stakeholders:
Ministry of the Interior; Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition; Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs; Ministry for Territorial Cohesion; Ministry of Economy and Finance; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Culture
New commitment
OGP principles with which the commitment is associated:
Participation, Innovation and technology for openness
Challenges
Numerous entrepreneurs, developers and data scientists working within digital ecosystems are ready to work with and within the State in order to improve public services by making use of the potential provided by the opening and circulation of public data, new uses of digital technology and working with communities of civil society contributors.
In addition, when they are looking to implement innovation projects requiring recourse to uncommon skills and expertise, administrations have to cope with a whole range of difficulties, including binding procurement contracts that take time to implement (even though the changes underway with regard to public purchases are bringing about greater flexibility in the processes involved), salary scales that hold little attraction for experts in digital technology, and lack of visibility as to methods developed within the entrepreneurial world.
Ambitions
Bringing administrations alongside digital ecosystems, perpetuating open innovation initiatives in the administration and disseminating such practices, including the “Entrepreneur of General Interest” programme, ministerial incubators and hackathons.
Public action is increased and improved by interaction between administrations and external players. Such exchanges enable identification of new problems connected with public action, introduction of new work methods, development of digital projects open to contribution, and assistance with startup development.
Various models have already been put to use by administrations as ways of getting more closely involved with digital ecosystems:
• - the “Entrepreneur of General Interest” programme, which brings external talents into the administration in order to resolve digital challenges within ministries;
• - the digital public services incubator, which provides public officials with the opportunity to develop effective digital products that better meet users’ needs;
• - incubation of projects promoted by private players, bearing on public problems or connected with a given sector’s digital transition.
• Public events designed to encourage collaboration between administrations and external players on a specific theme (hackathons, dataCamps, design workshops etc.). The “Entrepreneur of General Interest” (EIG) programme developed by Etalab favours such encounters between external talents and public officials wishing to introduce new problem- solving techniques. EIGs work in selected administrations for a 10-month period in order to resolve challenges connected with digital technology. The success met with when the experiment was first tried out in 2016 resulted in a second year’s trial. Its initial success must now be capitalised on if the initiative is to be perpetuated. The programme also enables identification of constraints that need lifting and opportunities to take advantage of in order to develop genuinely extended public services that would enable the State to work more simply with startups and transform public policies.
• It is also a matter of promoting and facilitating setup of ministerial incubators and disseminating agile methods in the implementation of projects.
The road map in detail

• Perpetuating the “Entrepreneur of General Interest” programme:
• • launching the 2nd and 3rd EIG years;
• • perpetuating programme funding over the longer term. 2018
•Creating a network of EIG alumni providing feedback on the initial years in order to help improve the programme’s effectiveness 2018
•Using such feedback as a basis for proposing legislative and regulatory changes with a view to improving technological pubic innovation within the administration 2019

In addition to these crosscutting actions, the following ministries have made commitments of their own:
THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR UNDERTAKES TO
● Create an ecosystem by making best use of open data and developing data co- production initiatives through projects and organisation of events
THE MINISTRY FOR THE ECOLOGICAL AND INCLUSIVE TRANSITION AND THE MINISTRY FOR TERRITORIAL COHESION UNDERTAKE TO
• ● Launch the first season of Fabrique Numérique (6 projects), a digital services incubator for development of new uses contributing to implementation of public policies
• ● Mobilise Entrepreneurs of General Interest to foster use of data in order to prevent maritime accidents
• ● Implement new data-science projects on the open innovation model:
o protection of whistleblowers: developing an information system accessible to whistleblowers that would guarantee traceability of information and their protection
o optimisation of roadside checks: better identification of zones in order to carry out more pertinent checks
o optimisation of examination of building permit applications: development of artificial intelligence software for urban planning which would assist individual applicants in examination of building-permit applications and eventually automate such examination.
• ● Organise a workshop open to producers and reusers of data on waste (BarCamps / hackathons)
• ● Launch a new call for Green Tech Verte (ministerial incubator) “Jeunes Pousses” projects aimed at small-scale startups
THE MINISTRY FOR EUROPE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS UNDERTAKES TO
• ● Continue support for work on redesigning and modernising services provided to French citizens travelling abroad and residents (the present Conseil aux Voyageurs and Fil d’Ariane). The project was winner of the January 2017 hackathon organised by the Ministry in partnership with the Interministerial Directorate for Information and Communications Systems (DINSIC) and the General Union for Public Purchases (UGAP).
• ● Set up a ministerial incubator designed as a facility where Ministry staff (Information System Directorate developers and intrapreneurs) and external players (developers, startups, young innovative companies, etc.) work on innovative projects.
THE MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE UNDERTAKES TO
● Create a “business innovation kit” in collaboration with the Agence du Patrimoine Immatériel de l’Etat (APIE – Agency for Public Intangibles in France) (mock-up: https://innovmetieretat.github.io/). The kit will enable easy setup of an online platform making administrations’ knowledge and communicable tools and/or resources available to users. It is designed as an open-access software module that can be incorporated, for example, into the “Comment Faire” public innovation toolbox (http://comment-faire.modernisation.gouv.fr/) provided by the Interministerial Directorate for Public Transformation (DITP, formerly the Secretariat-General for Government Modernisation [SGMAP]). The kit is disseminated in free format for kit content and the kit itself, and the source code is available at a repository (https://github.com/InnovMetierEtat/innovmetieretat.github.io). It uses the Git system and its online version Github as infrastructure, adding a simple user-friendly interface. Content is provided by public innovators for use by other public innovators and may also be of interest to members of civil society (citizens’ associations and innovative operators).
THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION UNDERTAKES TO
Open a ministerial innovation “lab” dedicated to acculturation to innovation and support for innovative projects within the Ministry: constitution of a team and a range of services in 2018.
THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE UNDERTAKES TO
Continue support for administrations and cultural operators in formalisation of projects for the call for EIG projects. In 2018, with Ministry support, two EIGs will be developing a platform for indexing and presentation of Mobilier National collections.
Support development of innovative digital services via the “State startups” scheme managed by Beta.gouv.fr, including the “Pass Culture” project, a mobile app providing young people with access to local artistic and cultural education with a dedicated digital portfolio.
THE MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ACTION AND ACCOUNTS UNDERTAKES TO
Set up a library of human resources initiatives in order to capitalise on successes and failures.
Support recognition of the right to make mistakes by organising seminars, events and feedback on the right to make mistakes, risk taking and the search for innovation.

9. Opening the administration to new skills and supporting the government’s open innovation initiatives

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

Numerous entrepreneurs, developers and data scientists working within digital ecosystems are ready to work with and within the State in order to improve public services by making use of the potential provided by the opening and circulation of public data, new uses of digital technology and working with communities of civil society contributors.

In addition, when they are looking to implement innovation projects requiring recourse to uncommon skills and expertise, administrations have to cope with a whole range of difficulties, including binding procurement contracts that take time to implement (even though the changes underway with regard to public purchases are bringing about greater flexibility in the processes involved), salary scales that hold little attraction for experts in digital technology, and lack of visibility as to methods developed within the entrepreneurial world.

Bringing administrations alongside digital ecosystems, perpetuating open innovation initiatives in the administration and disseminating such practices, including the “Entrepreneur of General Interest” programme, ministerial incubators and hackathons.

Public action is increased and improved by interaction between administrations and external players. Such exchanges enable identification of new problems connected with public action, introduction of new work methods, development of digital projects open to contribution, and assistance with startup development.

Various models have already been put to use by administrations as ways of getting more closely involved with digital ecosystems:

• the “Entrepreneur of General Interest” programme, which brings external talents into the administration in order to resolve digital challenges within ministries;
• the digital public services incubator, which provides public officials with the opportunity to develop effective digital products that better meet users’ needs;
• incubation of projects promoted by private players, bearing on public problems or connected with a given sector’s digital transition.

Public events designed to encourage collaboration between administrations and external players on a specific theme (hackathons, dataCamps, design workshops etc.). The “Entrepreneur of General Interest” (EIG) programme developed by Etalab favours such encounters between external talents and public officials wishing to introduce new problem- solving techniques. EIGs work in selected administrations for a 10-month period in order to resolve challenges connected with digital technology. The success met with when the experiment was first tried out in 2016 resulted in a second year’s trial. Its initial success must now be capitalised on if the initiative is to be perpetuated. The programme also enables identification of constraints that need lifting and opportunities to take advantage of in order to develop genuinely extended public services that would enable the State to work more simply with startups and transform public policies.

It is also a matter of promoting and facilitating setup of ministerial incubators and disseminating agile methods in the implementation of projects. [43]

Milestones

9.1 Perpetuating the “Entrepreneur of General Interest” programme.

Launching the 2nd and 3rd EIG years.

Perpetuating programme funding over the longer term.

9.2 Creating a network of EIG alumni providing feedback on the initial years in order to help improve the programme’s effectiveness

9.3 Using such feedback as a basis for proposing legislative and regulatory changes with a view to improving technological public innovation within the administration

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 2019

Context and Objectives

This commitment was a continuation of an ongoing program that sought to bridge two worlds that cannot currently meet. Many data scientists and digital entrepreneurs wish to work for the public sector, and the state lacks the competencies that these professionals could bring. There are, however, currently several obstacles prohibiting these worlds from meeting. These include burdensome procurement procedures, pay schemes lower than market value, and a lack for understanding of what the digital world has to offer. The Entrepreneur of General Interest (EIG) program, created in 2016, wished to facilitate the digital transition of the state. It would do so through the recruitment of data scientists and digital experts to work on specific projects. This commitment aimed to make the EIG program sustainable.

Since the program was launched, there have been 71 entrepreneurs working within the administration, including the last cohort. [44] Of the 39 EIGs of the two initial promotions, 14 continued to work within the public sector, capitalizing on the collaborations started with their administrative mentors. All the tools developed by the EIGs and the datasets they helped to open are available to the public on the following platforms: https://github.com/entrepreneur-interet-general and data.gouv.fr. An evaluation of the program is currently being conducted. [45]

This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation. The commitment involved outreach to entrepreneurs, developers, and data scientists to help the government improve public service through digital technology.

The commitment is overall sufficiently specific to be verifiable. Most milestones contain concrete information about what should be done (e.g., create a network of alumni, launch the next round of the program). The milestones that aim to make the program sustainable could have been enriched with more details to facilitate a future assessment (e.g., what is meant by “perpetuate the program” or “the longer term”?).

This initiative could have a minor effect. The outputs of the program could improve the use of technology in the long run, thanks to the projects developed by the EIGs. Given the point of departure, whereby the EIG program already exists, and the fact that this commitment only aims to make it sustainable, it can be considered an incremental step to improving the digitalization of the state.

Next steps

Given that this commitment is already significantly underway, the IRM researcher suggests that this commitment not be carried forward to the next action plan.

The government could, however, centralize the feedback and comments from the Entrepreneurs of General Interest about their experience in various government agencies. This would provide useful information about the previously mentioned “cultural obstacles” to open government within administrations.

9. Opening the administration to new skills and supporting the Government’s open innovation initiatives

Completion: Substantial

The budget bill 2020 renewed the “Entrepreneur of General Interest (EIG)” program for an additional year. [xxxviii] A network of EIG alumni was set up but there is no information available regarding its activities. [xxxix] The government self-assessment indicates that a number of ministries organized hackathons on the theme of open data and public innovation (the government self-assessment only links to one such event on energy retrofit). [xl] There is however no evidence of the development of specific legislative proposals to improve technological public innovation in the administration, based on the EIG program, apart from the diffusion, by Etalab, of a questionnaire to experts in digital affairs. [xli]