Rapid global transformations place governments under intense pressure to perform to ever-higher expectations at a time of shrinking public budgets. Populations are aging, countries are urbanizing, and technology is transforming the future of work. Citizens have increasingly lost trust in the ability of public officials to cope – let alone to excel – under these changing dynamics.
How can governments transform their culture and operations to address these challenges and disruptions? What is the role of government in helping to change mindsets and prepare citizens for the new normal? What radical changes lie ahead for the design, delivery and funding of core public services?
Governments will need to explore new policies, discover new innovations, and form new partnerships. The public sector will require courage to tackle the employment, education, and social security challenges facing the populations it serves – and to regain and retain the public’s trust while doing so. It will need to seek new forms of revenue, while enhanced cooperation with the private sector and civil society may prove key to accomplish public goals. To succeed, the public sector will also need to redeploy, reskill, and reorganize its own resources, staff and departments. Mindsets will need to shift to break down silos and embed intrapreneurship in public service culture.
Interactive debate and hands-on problem-solving takes place under the Chatham House Rule. The two-day session includes case study presentations, small table discussions, in-depth working groups, and gamification and role-playing exercises. Conditions of trust and creativity facilitate the open exchange of ideas and best practices among peers from geographically and economically diverse countries that lead the world in public service innovation. Participants benefit from the seclusion and unique beauty of Salzburg Global Seminar’s headquarters at Schloss Leopoldskron, where participants can step back from professional pressures and form strong and sustained international networks with their counterparts from around the world.
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