A key element of the Lab’s work has been modelling new ways of working.
What Happened
The Lab team became involved in ‘educational’ activities, as the idea of a Government innovation Lab with a focus on building cross-agency collaboration was quite new and unique. A clever visual storyteller, Kim Quirke, designed collateral that was used to tell stories about the Lab’s approach.
The All-of-Government Showcase
The day-long, twice-yearly Showcase is co-hosted by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and the Department of Internal Affairs. Venues have ranged from the Beehive, MBIE and Te Papa, the national museum. Its aim is to get public sector staff who are working on innovative projects, to talk and share ideas - and hopefully explore opportunities for agencies to collaborate.
Videos from Showcase
Techweek
Though it was not involved every year, DIA-organised Techweek events attracted good numbers, with participants wanting more opportunities to share and work together. Events have included:
- A Better Rules Hack to develop prototypes legislation as a code
- A Transitioning to an Optimistic Future workshop to explore what an activity, such as starting a business, or arranging the funeral of a loved one, might be like in future
- A workshop on the Digital Service Standard – informed by the Māori worldview
- A session on Artificial Intelligence and machine learning
- An Open Lab session demonstrating rapid prototyping for Virtual Reality.
- The Emerging Tech team shared their work internally within DIA to help staff gain a better understanding of where digital technology was heading and what it looked like for people working in the government sector. Brown Bag sessions were held to explain work underway in the Lab on Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality - photos below.
