Laboratorios de innovación en los gobiernos sudamericanos: congruencias y peculiaridades
| Autor | Alessandro Carlos da Silva Junior, Magnus Luiz Emmendoerfer |
| Cargo | Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração, Viçosa, MG, Brazil / Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração, Viçosa, MG, Brazil |
1
BAR-Brazilian Administration Review, 20(4), e220173, 2023.
Research Article
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Keywords:
contemporary public administration;
innovation in the public sector;
innovation culture.
JEL Code:
H1, H4, J48, L3, O3.
Innovation Labs in South American
Governments: Congruencies and Peculiarities
Alessandro Carlos da Silva Junior1 , Magnus Luiz Emmendoerfer1
1 Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração, Viçosa, MG, Brazil
How to cite: Silva Junior, A. C., & Emmendoerfer, M. L. (2023). Innovation labs in South American governments: Congruencies and peculiarities. BAR-Brazilian
Administration Review, 20(4), e220173.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-7692bar2023220173
Received:
December 05, 2022.
This paper was with the authors for two revisions.
Accepted:
July 24, 2023.
Publication date:
August 14, 2023.
Funding:
The authors thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico (312764/2022-7; 404606/2021-0),
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível
Superior (001), and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado
de Minas Gerais (APQ-04471-22; PPM-00049-18) for the
financial support for the research in this article.
Conflict of Interests:
The authors have stated that there is no conflict of interest.
Corresponding author:
Magnus Luiz Emmendoerfer
Universidade Federal de Viçosa,
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração
Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n, Campus Universitário,
CEP 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil
magnus@ufv.br
Editor-in-Chief:
Ivan Lapuente Garrido
(Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil).
Associate Editor:
Claudio Zancan
(Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil).
Reviewers:
Adalmir Oliveira Gomes
(Universidade de Brasília, Brazil)
and one anonymous reviewer.
Editorial assistants:
Eduarda Anastacio, Kler Godoy and Simone Rafael
(ANPAD, Maringá, Brazil).
ABSTRACT
This study aims to identify and characterize innovation laboratories in South American
governments by employing a comprehensive and exploratory multiple-case study ap-
proach. Data were obtained from documentary and bibliographic sources, as well as
through structured questionnaires containing both open and closed questions. The
collected data were then classified using the content analysis technique. The findings
revealed consistencies and peculiarities between the labs, corroborating the extant lit-
erature. Specifically, there is a greater prevalence of government labs with a focus on
organizational aspects, particularly at the local and regional levels, compared to citi-
zen-oriented labs. Furthermore, these labs primarily serve as educators (77.78%) and in-
novators/developers (72.22%), with an emphasis on improving services, administrative
processes, concepts, and public policies. The presence of innovation labs can facilitate
systemic changes within the public sector, enhancing its capacity to deliver ecient
and eective solutions to complex problems. Lastly, the study provides an overview
of its practical and academic implications, particularly when highlighting the concept
of governmental innovation poverty. Additionally, the study acknowledges its inherent
limitations and suggests potential avenues for future research.
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Innovation labs in South American governments: Congruencies and peculiarities
BAR-Brazilian Administration Review, 20(4), e220173, 2023.
INTRODUCTION
Governments employ public innovation to swiftly and
eciently address intricate transformations, thus aim-
ing to streamline public administration processes and
alleviate skepticism toward traditional bureaucratic
structures (Cavalcante, 2021). According to Cinar et al.
(2022), innovation in the public sector entails embrac-
ing, generating, and advancing novel or substantially
improved ideas, objects, and methodologies that oer
solutions to complex problems.
In the context of public sector innovation, increas-
ing emphasis has been placed on creating favorable
environments in which to foster experimentation and
collaborative co-creation, paying particular attention
to open government and collaborative innovation
(Väyrynen et al., 2023). Among these environments,
government innovation labs are particularly notewor-
thy (Acevedo & Dassen, 2016; Lauriano & Ferreira, 2022;
Lewis et al., 2020; Sano, 2020; Silva-Junior et al., 2021).
These labs are defined as public spaces or organiza-
tions that embrace social participation and collabora-
tion, with the aim of promoting innovative ideas, tools,
and methodologies for public management, ultimately
facilitating service delivery and social oversights (Law
no. 14,129, 2021).
The establishment of innovation labs in South
American governments has consistently risen, espe-
cially in the last five years, as observed by Sano (2020).
These entities serve as platforms for developing di-
verse alternatives that equip the state apparatus and
its personnel with the necessary tools and knowledge
to tackle complex challenges in public administration.
Additionally, they promote the integration and eective
utilization of information technologies in management
practices (Galhardo, 2019). Furthermore, their objective
is to cultivate an innovation-oriented culture within the
public sector and streamline processes, thereby en-
abling government actions to become more adaptable,
agile, and responsive, resulting in improved eective-
ness in addressing issues in the public domain (Ferreira
& Botero, 2020).
Several studies have explored innovation labs in
South America. However, it is worth noting that a con-
siderable number of these studies are predominantly
limited to technical reports, thereby lacking a compre-
hensive overview of this phenomenon, specifically re-
garding its distinct attributes in the context of emerging
countries (Sano, 2020). Hence, it is imperative to ad-
dress existing research gaps by extensively characteriz-
ing these environments. This approach will give the lit-
erature a more comprehensive understanding thereof
and facilitate the generation of new insights.
This research aims to investigate government inno-
vation laboratories in developing nations, with a par-
ticular focus on South America. The study endeavors
to address the following questions: What empirical ev-
idence exists on this subject? What are the main char-
acteristics of these environments? What are the con-
gruencies and peculiarities of these laboratories?
Furthermore, the article aims to examine and de-
scribe government innovation labs in South America,
aiming to identify both commonalities and distinctive
features among the identified laboratories. This re-
search holds international significance in light of the
ongoing technological and political transformations
taking place in South America. Moreover, these chang-
es are further amplified by the emergence of new citi-
zen demands, which exert pressure on governments to
devise strategies for modernization, transparency, and
openness. Such strategies necessitate a high degree of
innovation (Acevedo & Dassen, 2016; Ferreira & Botero,
2020; Silva-Junior et al., 2022).
South American governments face a multitude of
challenges, including the expanding role of the state
within society, resource constraints, and the erosion
of public organizations’ credibility in promoting col-
lective welfare. These challenges underscore a need to
foster a culture of innovation within the public sector.
Consequently, there is growing recognition of the sig-
nificance of establishing new innovation laboratories
and teams at the local, regional, and national levels of
government, as emphasized by Cole (2022) and Osorio
et al. (2020).
The importance and necessity of examining in-
novation laboratories should be acknowledged, par-
ticularly due to the scarcity of available studies in the
academic literature. The majority of existing reports is
primarily technical and originates from international or-
ganizations such as the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB) and the National Endowment for Science,
Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Furthermore, there
is a scarcity of scientific research conducted by South
American scholars on this subject. It is also notewor-
thy that most investigations on laboratories are carried
out in developed nations, underscoring the need for
more comprehensive investigations into this area with-
in emerging countries (Emmendoerfer, 2020). This is
of particular significance when taking into account the
institutional, social, economic, and political factors that
shape the innovation landscape in these regions.
INNOVATION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
The field of public sector innovation has garnered con-
siderable interest at both the national and internation-
al levels. This increased attention can be attributed to
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