Risk and innovation: towards a framework for risk governance in public services

This paper focuses upon two complex and related concepts, namely risk and innovation in public services. The last two decades have witnessed an increasing policy imperative around using innovation to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services. Innovation is seen to be inextricably linked to positive risk-taking, and yet little attention has been paid to its governance in the public service innovation process. This paper argues that existing approaches to risk and innovation are not sufficiently developed and propose a framework of risk governance that aims to address these issues and suggests a research agenda for the future.