The document discusses how ICT can empower policy innovation through socio-technical systems. It provides an example of a socio-technical system developed in Piedmont, Italy to monitor road safety. The system connects various stakeholders through ICT networks and applications. By improving understanding and collaboration, socio-technical systems can enable innovative policy practices by leveraging the interactions between technology and social networks.

1. ICT for policy innovation:
empowering the policy production
process
Sylvie Occelli
IRES - Istituto di Ricerche Economico Sociali del Piemonte, Via
Nizza 18, 10125 Turin, Italy.
occelli@ires.piemonte.it
INPUT Conference –Informatics and Urban and Regional Planning Cagliari, May 10-12

2. Premises
ICT have supported the creation of a radically different policy background, also
popularized as the e-government and e-governance transformation
the impact of ICT applications in policy practices however has been limited
main reason of failure: e-government programs have been defined narrowly
as a technology to enhance the efficiency of transactions; they have given scanty
attention at their potential in facilitating the linkages between the various
government departments and institutions F
(scanty attention at the deeper transformations occurring in both market and
the state)
But people and their empowered capabilities enabled by ICT networks are
a main vehicle for innovation. These processes cannot be overlooked in today
policy practices and provide and provide unprecedented stimuli for change

3. A claim: ICT are a main vehicle through which innovation can establish
itself in the public sector
Contents
innovation in the public sector: an oxymoron ? ….but we can do it
a regional case of (potential) innovation: the Piedmont Road Safety
Monitoring Centre
concluding remarks

4. Innovation in the public sector: why not !!!
An unaddressed topic!
Extent of mandate changes
Weakness of the ecological force of competition
The pursue of max of public value, which makes it difficult to measure
sector
Current attempts: Transformational
Transforming the whole
relationship between the
identification of measurement government
public sector and their users
indices (both the components and
the stages of development of
innovation) a) a managed process of
ICT enabled change
b) needs of
citizens and
businesses
development of a systemic are at the
heart of the
approach: incorporating the societal Requirements process
c) impacts are
concerns of transformative R1) managing the downstream benefits
after the completion of an ICT project
achieved on the
efficiency and
innovation, OASIS (2011) R2) restructuring the public labour to take
effectiveness of
government
advantage of new efficiencies

5. Innovation in the public sector: makes it happen by leveraging its design
and realization
variety changes: in the constitutive
components of both services and their
delivery alternatives.
innovation would ensue from an increased
variety in the delivered services, because of
the inclusion of different and more pro-
active types of actors as well as from a wider getting hold of the processes by which
set of ICT- enabled service functionalities variety changes can take place
creation of public value, not only from the
supply of certain services or cost reductions
but also from the quality of their interaction
with citizens
ICT are crucial enablers:
a) they empower the observation lens of the
different actors involved
b) they make it possible to create (improve)
the socio technical systems, through which
processes can be implemented.

6. Socio Technical System (STS): an old concept for new kind of systems 1)
many formulations, sharing 2 facts: Technical
the interaction of social and technical system
networks creates the conditions for successful
(or unsuccessful) system organizational Socio Technical
performance System
Human
addressing each network alone (socio or system
technical) tends to amplify those network
effects that are detrimental to the system
STS is a comprehensive entity encompassing human and
technological elements, communicating and interacting
(sometimes in a non-linear ways) by means of manifold Human system
social and technical networks. (Identification of the
components)
Socio Technical Technical
although no supremacy is alleged by one type of network System system
in shaping the resulting socio-technical system, each one
plays a role (Identification of the forms of interaction) they
must close the gap between social needs and technical
performance, between what communities want and what
the technology does (identification of the patterns)

7. Socio Technical System: an old concept for new kind of systems 2
STS as Human Complex Adaptive System
Selection of
measurement / Constsructs of an
policy indicators inforrmation wired
environment
D) new forms of service delivery D) Systemic learning
in the activity systems (schools, Organizing
health, transport, PA, etc.) principles
C) ICT/web applications and C) Affordances: ICT
functionality/range of usages level of system
adoptions and usages
description
RA
S
H
STS
level of
B) Uptake of Internet and BB B) Networks and
among households, firms and decision
applications LA
govermental bodies making
H
H
A) BB spatial coverage, wired A) Broadband level of
and wireless services and ICT organization
Perspectives (types of level) Main issues involved
A) level of description (description by selection of strata depends on the observer (i.e.
strata) strategic, tactical, operational)
B)level of decision-making (description by identification of the functional hierarchy entailed in a
layers) choice process (search, selection/adaptation, evaluation)
C) level of organization (description by definition of the structure of an organization
echelons) (elementary units and their arrangements)

8. . ICT diffusion in Piedmont: providing ground for a region wide STS
A broadband policy program (Wi-Pie)
A regional system in transition!!
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2006-2011 profile
Households with broadband
25,4 37,2 45,5 57,8 67,1
connections
Firms with broadband
80,1 85,4 90,1 85,4 84,3
connections
Internet users 42,7 46,7 53,7 50,9 64,6
Individuals interacting with
26,7 27,0 36,7 32,6 50,8
LAs
Firms with a website 80,5 81,6 88,4 85,7 86
Firms interacting with LAs 66,8 59,9 56,5 64,4 71,5
LAs with a standard URL 0 59 64,4 75,7 87,2
0
LA websites with at least 1
0 32,6 72 62,1 80,2 88
online service (level >=1)
LA websites with at least 1
0 0 9,5 17,6 6,1 7,5
online service (level >=3)

9. 2. ICT diffusion in Piedmont: providing ground for a region wide STS 1.
Digital Agenda target indicators (2010) Regular Internet users (2010)
Broadband coverage for
all (2013)
25% of citizens using e- 100 Broadband coverage
government and
80 >10Mbps
returning forms
60
50% of citizens using e- 50% of citizens buying
government 40 online
20
0 20% of citizens buying
85% internet use
online cross-boarder
60% internet use by 33% of SMEs bying
disadvantaged people online
75% Internet regular 33% of SMEs selling
user online
Piedmont Italy
Europe 27 Target DA
ICT diffusion in the regional
170
2009 170
2010
sub-areas, 2009-2010
160
160 TORINO
150
150
A
A 140 p 140 NOVARA
p TORINO BIELLA
p p
130 VCO
r r 130 PIEMONTE
VCO NOVARA
o o
120 CUNEO
p p 120
r VERCELLI
110 r
i 110
a PIEMONTE i
z 100 a
BIELLA 100 ASTI
ALESSANDRIA
i VERCELLI z
o 90 i 90
n
o
e 80 ASTI
n 80
70 CUNEO e
70
ALESSANDRIA
60 60
50 50
50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170
50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170
Diffusione
Diffusione

10. 2. ICT diffusion in Piedmont: providing ground for a region wide STS 2.
Important or primary action domains in service Important or primary action domains in
improvements for small and large municipalities in service improvements for small and large
Piedmont, 2011 municipalities in Piedmont, 2011
administra ve
70% simplifica on
40%
60% 30%
20%
50%
users' need norms
10%
online access
40%
0%
quality of service
30%
20% promo ng service interoperability
employees'
func onality competences
among
10% governments
PROMOTION
0% 70.0 more than 5000 inhabitants less than 5000 inhabitants Piedmont
62.0
less than 5000 more than 5000 Piedmont
70.0 QoS
inhabitants inhabitants
81.0
62.0
81.0 NORMS_POP
NEEDS 73.0
62.0
52.0 59.0 62.0
64.0
55.0
62.0 73.0
52.0 59.0
ACCESS_POP
EMPLOYEE_POP
81.0 81.0
68.0 75.0
73.0 78.0 62.0
64.0 68.0 75.0
55.0
SIMPLIFICATION_POP
73.0 78.0 65.0
65.0
LA_INTEROPERABILITY_POP

11. 3. an example of a STS for road safety 1)
Death for 100 thousand vehicles Accidents/km on regional roads

12. design and implementation of the STS: 1)
The development of the STS for road safety monitoring builds upon a conceptual
framework which posits that an information wired environment results from the
deployment of an innovation kernel (i.e. a systemic entity made up of ICTs,
information and functionalities), operated upon by agents with reflexive and
reflective capabilities
Four constructs are used setting up the STS: Broadband access, ICT users, ICT
application, and systemic learning
Province Monitoring Carabinieri
Centers Traffic Police
Regional
Data-
Municipalities Regional Monitoring Police data Regional Wharehouse
(local polices) Center (RMC) Consortium of
Information
Systems
(CSI-Piemonte)
Governmental National Bureau
bodies of Statistics RMC Web data
General web-portal entry (TWIST)
Public
based at the regional level
based at the national level TECHNOLOGICAL
SOCIAL NETWORK
NETWORK

13. Making STS into action: adopting a developmental path capable of enrolling both
stakeholders and technology
it entails to cope with the
improving a shared understanding
degree of wickedness
among the road safety stakeholders encountered in the road
safety problems: An
understanding road safety phenomena and improved mutual
d) systemic enabling the monitoring road safety policy understanding among the
learning actions various stakeholders and a
more appreciative regional
c) ICT systems improving the usability requirements
of the software
context are needed
b) ICT users education and dissemination among the
agents involved in data gathering
a)broadband alerting about poor access in sub-regional
access areas
supporting a shared commitment by the road
safety stakeholders
The STS has become fully operational in
it implies to deal with the complexity of the STS January 2009 Currently, about 2200
social network and with its capability to effectively users (more than 600 police
address road safety issues. Creating the conditions departments) have subscribed to TWIST.
for the agents to commit themselves to a common
goal directed endeavor

14. Concluding remarks: we can build innovation !
STS and namely the co-evolutive coupling between ICT and social networks and the resulting
knowledge flows yielded from it, are a main (although not unique) vehicle for innovative
changes in the public sector.
Piedmont case study shows that: Open issues:
awareness about the opportunities the extent to which a STS can provide an
likely to be associated with a region environment (a platform) where policy actions
wide STS is increasing. can be designed on a shared basis,
for these opportunities to generate experimented and progressively refined as the
innovative transformations in service (social) system learn to build itself;
delivery and policy activities, the whole the kind of structure a STS, as a Human
socio-informational linkages Complex Adaptive system, should exhibit in
underpinning government order to maintain its openness and flexibility
organizations should change. while guaranteeing robustness for the
ICT usage should extend from development of a certain policy.
disseminating information to
establishing relationships between
outside and inside government