COVID-19:
Views from our Fellows
on Data, Technology & Innovation
Innovation’s Three Allies: Road-tested Tactics that Bolster Mission Results
July 05, 2023
Academy Fellow, Judy Douglas, and Alexis Bonnell, reflect on their government and industry insights from the front-lines of transformation.
We are in an “exponential age.” Government must adapt rapidly and constantly, while navigating tsunamis of new ideas, technology and information. This requires a proactive relationship with innovation and its potential to quickly integrate positive changes that improve mission results.
Innovation cannot be treated as an “other duties as assigned” task and be expected to flourish in an organization. A C-level title alone, like Chief Innovation Officer, isn’t enough. Great Innovation Leaders with high level titles who lack the resources or support to actually execute innovative practices, approaches, or policies, are destined to fail. Worse, in some ways they are set-up to fail. But they most often fail when Innovation Leaders think a good idea is enough. A good idea without allies, is like a tree with no roots. It might live a glorious green moment, but can quickly wither against the brutal winds of day-to-day bureaucracy.
Explicit innovation roles bring needed focus and nourishment, coaxing a fledgling seed of conviction to be something better - such as a newly realized way of working. An operational organization can find it difficult to think beyond its current state, toward its future state, without the nourishment of time, talent bandwidth and the resources to do that. It isn’t just about financial resources. It is about creating a network of allies who help Innovation Leaders navigate the current state of the organization, while trying new things. Conveying the evidence-based case for why a new way should replace a current approach is crucial. Successful Innovation Leaders enlist evidence, communications and networks to rally needed resources and shift mindsets.
Evidence. It is crucial to create an intentional approach, resourced with the assets needed, to evaluate and implement innovation. Innovation without appropriate evidence may miss the mark, or fail to scale. People will rarely adopt innovation as an alternative to common practice without evidence.
Ironically, there often isn’t robust evidence on the current state of practice against which to compare. We often rely on history and assume the way we have been doing things isn’t risky and is effective. This makes it difficult to compare the proposed evidence-based innovation with the current practice.
In a major USAID challenge around growing more food with less water, all of the funded innovations had significant evidence-based frameworks measuring the innovation’s impact. This gave insight into the cost/benefit and impact ratio of the new innovations- that’s the “numerator” in the “innovation evidence equation”. The “denominator” should have been the cost/benefit and impact ratio of the current practice. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be clearly articulated. (Learning lesson: The longer you have been doing something, the less evidence of its effectiveness you might have).
In another example, a government-funded social entrepreneur proposed a new and effective way to provide vulnerable people with their first pair of glasses. They were able to screen vision and deliver a new pair of glasses for about $4 each (the numerator). The long-standing classic program had many more moving parts, greater overhead and a cost of about $210 (the denominator) to get the same person in eyeglasses. The innovation was 52 times more effective! But, a better way hadn’t been considered previously because the current program was working, and had been for a while, so no one questioned whether it was the most effective and efficient way it could be done. It was simply the way it was done.
So, interestingly, an innovative method supported with evidence can often stimulate the need to better understand the “Impact Math” of the current practice to decide which is more effective. This anecdote reminds us to integrate ongoing evaluation and re-evaluation into all processes. Something doesn’t have to be obviously broken to benefit from improvement.
Evidence plays a critical role in risk mitigation and risk perception. It can help overcome resistance caused by the discomfort of moving away from common practice, and encourage a new path toward adoption. Operating from empirical information that creates solid “Impact Math” can help people and organizations better understand risk, gain comfort with experimentation, and guide toward change that is more likely to “stick”. From its inception, the U.S. Global Development Lab at USAID, had an evidence team dedicated to helping innovators think through how they would know if their innovation was worth scaling.
Innovation is nothing if it isn’t ultimately used. Early evidence planning is a great way to “build a bridge” over the potential “Valley of Death” innovations often face in their struggle to become mainstreamed or institutionalized in programs of record. Evidence teams can work as allies to programs of record. They can mutually determine ahead of time what the innovation would need to show to replace or amplify the current programming. This makes the operational program of record an intimate partner. It also influences the current program by ensuring its teams are aware of emergent options and gives them a role in them. Such evidence-based engagement significantly mitigates the “not invented here” cultural resistance that often inhibits innovation adoption.
Communications. Even when innovation is viewed as a good thing, it has the potential to be considered threatening or competing with other good things. So, there needs to be clear and compelling stories about the purpose and the goals to help people understand and embrace the innovation. In government, we’ve seen pioneering innovation, new practices, and both revolutionary and evolutionary improvements, fail because the team wasn't able to devote time, resources or effort to help people understand proposed change and what it would mean to them. One of the strongest predictors of the success and impact of innovative work in government seems to be whether there are communications plans, resources and sponsorship engaged from the moments of inception and design and throughout.
Also, consider that innovation teams and talent often “run hot”. They can have a greater sense of urgency and need to prove progress, so they may “burn out” quickly or wear out relationships with their operational colleagues. Communication plays a critical role in creating collaborative celebration of accomplishments. Together, the teams and organizations can reflect on what has been achieved and what it took to get there. This conscious “re-fueling” often invigorates a joint sense of purpose and identity for individuals, teams, and even entire agencies. Innovation work becomes a critical part of the “legend and lore” of an organization in reporting to The Hill, in the Press, or through internal recognition.
Network. Driving innovation and transformation in a bureaucracy can be like adding a large boulder (innovation) into the middle of a river (the organization’s bureaucracy). At first the boulder disrupts the flow. But over time, the river works the consistent power and overwhelming force of its streams against the boulder, wearing down the boulder and forcing it to meet the flows of the river. Over time, the once great boulder becomes just another rock on the riverbed. But when the boulder is placed strategically, usually via the wise counsel of guides and allies who know the river well, the boulder might fundamentally shift the river around it, forever changing the course of the organization.
When USAID created its Innovation Lab, the team included wise allies in the form of an embedded innovation-focused lawyer and innovation-focused procurement lead. This changed the dynamic flow dramatically between the innovation goals of the agency and the larger bureaucracy. Dedicated teams and expertise in these areas facilitated early, open and transparent conversations that accelerated progress. The lawyers and procurement folks cleared away many obstacles and became innovation advocates with the larger organization, showing exactly how and when to place the boulder.
This integrated network approach helped to keep a laser focus on agency mission and to develop constructive strategies to define, communicate, and prove-out innovation. This collaboration increased the likelihood that Lab initiatives had the desired impact and scalability, and could be institutionalized. Having a Chief Innovation Officer certainly provided needed focus and an accelerant. Equally important was the focus on winning over the resources, support and engagement of the organization to produce faster, better targeted results.
Mission impact is strengthened by these lessons from the evolution of innovative ideas into transformative implementation. Strong allied networks, early and robustly designed communication, and intentional Impact Math deepens an organization’s capacity to touch and transform more lives at the pace demanded in this “exponential age”.
CYBERSECURITY INNOVATION: Government Leaders Bring Innovation to Fighting Cyber Crime
November 28, 2022
What is the secret sauce for this fight? Recently, government leaders from DHS, FBI, IRS, and Secret Service compared notes at the recent ACT-IAC Homeland Security and Law Enforcement forum. Each Cyber Crime panelist said it a little differently, but the secret sauce they agreed upon is innovation in leadership and sustained collaboration across agencies and partners. Panelists were Tracy Cormier, DHS, Assistant Director, Cyber & Operational Technology; Shawn Devroude, FBI, Deputy Assistant Director, Cyber Division; Jarod Koopman, IRS, Acting Executive Director, Cyber & Forensic Services; and Dave Smith, U.S. Secret Service, Assistant Director, Office of Investigations.
Moderator Gregg Garrett, Peraton, VP, Cybersecurity, set the stage with data from the SONICWALL - Mid-Year 2022 Global Cyber Threat Report.
- 132% Increase in cyberattacks on encrypted data
- 77% Increase in cyberattacks on Internet of Things (IoT) devices
- 30% Increase in crypto-jacking cyberattacks
- 19% Increase in cyber intrusion attempts = 3 trillion intrusion attempts (January-June 2022)
- $6 Trillion in estimated global damages from cybercrime in 2021 (Source: Cybersecurity Ventures, 2022)
Are we nervous yet? How can we not be?
The panelists and their organizations clearly valued their collaborations and partnerships. Collaborations mentioned came in many flavors, including:
-Pursue “borderless” law enforcement and other initiatives. Cyberattacks are increasingly borderless and so too must be the responses. Panelists agreed on the need to expand global and US law enforcement and other collaboration, for example, to “follow the money” (including digital assets).
-Work with the private sector to increase reports and resolutions. Actions and innovations the IRS is implementing in partnership with DHS, FBI, and CISA help small businesses to enhance their cybersecurity education, training, and cyber defense to increase cyber resilience.
-Harmonize responsibilities. This coordination is facilitated by joint cyber operations and multi-partner Task Forces that include those working in DoD and the Intelligence community, or those outside of the law enforcement community.
-Deploy cyber innovations, training and awareness. For example, DHS is deploying cyber technology innovations including cyber auto incident response automation with AI/ML, continuous diagnostics and monitoring (CDM), and advanced data analytics to improve cyber incident response time.
-Share and publish best practices. One example cited was using behavior-based analytics as a low-cost, high-yield approach that could be collaboratively pursued.
-Improve de-confliction. Coordinate across government agencies regarding “cyberattack targets” as well as tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
It was said in many ways that the most important innovation is in collaboration so that cooperation is less reliant on the strength of will and leadership, and increasingly formalized and institutionalized.
Authors:
Judy Douglas, Peraton, Client Industry Executive; NAPA Fellow; IAC Executive Committee Member, ACT-IAC Collaboration Council Co-Chair, and ACT-IAC Innovators’ Circle Member and past Chair
Gregory A. Garrett, Peraton, Vice President, Cybersecurity; Cyber Crime Panel Moderator, Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Forum
We Desperately Need Sound Data to Understand COVID Impacts
April 28, 2020
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to alter our way of life, more than ever we need valid and reliable data to support decision-making at every level of society. When used responsibly, data analysis helps our country’s leaders determine what policies to implement and can even guide our individual actions.
Donald Rumsfeld eloquently said there are known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. The pandemic highlights all three categories. Unfortunately, what we don’t know today about how the coronavirus is impacting the American people – the known unknowns -- is vast.
We all have questions about the virus, its implications, and its effects on our neighbors, our friends, and our families. While there are some questions that can’t be definitively answered today, believe it or not, there is much that we should be able to answer with good research if we start now.
Interview: Removing Barrier to Innovation in COVID-19 Legislation
April 24, 2020
The coronavirus crisis has upended American life, with the federal government and state governments responding with various levels of efficacy. Programs to ameliorate the pandemic’s effects are running out of money, stalling, and have been criticized for inefficiency. With the immediate need ahead of us, perhaps it is time to pilot new approaches to the management of federally funded and state-administered programs.
Stan Soloway wrote a column for GovExec.com recently arguing for the removal of barriers to innovation and he joined GovExec Daily to explain how government can move forward more efficiently.
Video: What Technologies, Investments, and Policy Action Could Help Us Rebuild from COVID-19 on a Global Scale?
April 16, 2020
Technology and investments will play a central role in the rebuilding and recovery from COVID-19. What tech and investments show the greatest promise? What policy actions would help us rebuild more intelligently – locally, nationally, and globally? What is the role of transparency, both in the public and private sector, in supporting good governance with the rebuilding and recovery efforts? In addition, what is the role of privacy – and can we make sure we also persevere privacy in the COVID-19 response and recovery too? Please join the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center on Thursday, April 16 at 12pm EDT for a discussion with internationally recognized author and scientist Dr. David Brin, noted public policy professor and expert Dr. Kathryn Newcomer, and Dr. David Bray on the technologies, investments, and policy actions that could help us rebuild from COVID-19 on a global scale.
Video: Technologies, Investments, and Policy to Rebuild After COVID
The Pandemic Is Bad, We Need the Capability to Measure Just How Bad
March 25, 2020
If the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic are similar to other global crises historically, there will be long-lasting effects on the businesses, communities, and households for years to come. Understanding just how much the crisis affects our country’s population should be imperative for policymakers. To do so, our country’s research community needs the tools – and the data – to monitor and evaluate the success of our policy interventions to protect public health.
Unfortunately, today the country is ill-equipped for such a task. While ongoing work to implement new federal data laws and practices has put the government on the precipice, the crisis indicates we need much more rapid improvement. The American people will need high-quality and reliable information to understand the current crisis and better prepare for the next one. We cannot wait a decade for that to happen.