5 Public Sector innovation champions

We've listed our top 5 public sector departments who are leading the way when it comes to new and innovative technology, along with what tech they're using.

With the arrival of Crown Commercial Service’s Spark DPS, it looks like we’ll be seeing a greater focus on innovation from government. So, whilst the arrival of Spark has got us thinking about future innovation, we thought we would dig out some examples of government bodies that already have their finger on the innovation pulse!

NHS Digital

Arguably, one of the biggest champions of innovative technology in the public sector at the moment is the NHS. Possibly attributed to the stretched frontline of healthcare needing to find new streamlined and shared solutions, and also a focus on improving patient care.

This year they launched NHSX, an organisation tasked with moving forward digital transformation. Some seriously cool technology is currently in testing, including wearables, for health monitoring at home, and new ways to improve patients care (including Smart Homes for the elderly).

And, there’s more on the way! NHS Digital have pledged £1m of funding for innovative uses of digital technology in adult social care for starters, as well as hoping to increase the use of AI within hospitals.

Home Office

With the Home Office working alongside the DfT to seek novel ideas to shape the future of aviation and border security – announcing funding of £4.5m for it! – the Home Office are hard at work using innovative technology solutions. One example is their funding for proof of concept projects for knife detection technology in crowded places.

Last year they also announced they would be using AI to tackle extremist content being posted online and moved into crowd security applications too. Which is all part of their efforts to work more closely with the private sector to tackle UK security challenges with new ideas!

Ministry of Justice

Another innovation champion in the public sector is the Ministry of Justice. Recently launching a secure digital ID application for employees and those working in the courts. Titled the ‘professional-user access scheme’, it’s just one way the MoJ are using new ideas for service delivery.

They’ve also been pushing the use of video technology for their smaller civil cases, and have rolled out nationally new GPS tagging systems for offenders.

Department for Work and Pensions

As early as June last year, DWP highlighted their willingness to incorporate new and emerging technology into their service delivery, as they aim to make it all easier to use by the public. This includes machine learning, natural language processing and image processing – with a lot of AI solutions too!

They’ve stated that innovation should be at the heart of what the department does, championing new and exciting technologies. This includes bringing in AI to reduce benefits fraud and using blockchain technology alongside their mobile apps for benefit claimants.

HM Revenue & Customs

Last but not least, HMRC were labelled as the government’s leader in robotic automation (RA) technology by central gov themselves. They even set up an Automated Delivery Centre in 2016 and have had over 15 million RA transactions so far.

More recently, they’ve been pushing for the public to use Alexa and voice activated technology to deal with enquiries and transactions, and we could see a much bigger increase in using AI after Brexit, according to reports.

There you have it! This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but these are exciting times for technology and innovation in government. We are patiently awaiting the government innovation strategy to see how else government is pledging its commitment to innovation.