Public Sector Innovation Day was held this week to a full house at Veröld, the House of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. The day is organised by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs in collaboration with the Association of Icelandic Local Authorities. The programme consisted of a variety of presentations, including an introduction to BRÚNNI, a new approach to services for nursery and primary school children in Hafnarfjörður.
BRÚIN – Child | Counselling | Resources
The Bridge is a new approach to the provision of services for nursery and primary school children in Hafnarfjörður, which has been in development since the end of 2016. This comprehensive project is concerned with finding ways to improve services for nursery- and primary school children of the town and their families, whereas in recent years, professionals and parents have expressed concerns that there is not enough targeted support for children and adolescents with social, learning and/or mental health issues in Iceland. In the autumn of 2018, this new approach was launched, and integration and increased services are being implemented through solution teams that work with both school stages. The solution team includes representatives from nursery and primary schools, a psychologist/special education officer from the education and leisure services, and a specialist from Brúin. This provides comprehensive support for children and their families.
Public Sector Innovation Day
Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, on the occasion of the day, launched a new website on public innovation. In his address, the minister referred, among other things, to the Innovation Barometer, a pan-Nordic survey on the state of innovation. Its findings reveal that 78% of public sector workplaces in the country have implemented at least one innovation project in the past two years. Bjarni said it was particularly pleasing how active public sector workplaces were in innovation, as such projects had resulted in improved quality in 73% cases, increased efficiency in 67% cases, and greater job satisfaction in half of the cases. The new website is among the government's measures to support innovation in the public sector. The government places a strong emphasis on innovation and is a member of Statement by the OECD countries on public innovation, which was signed this May, is part of that effort.
The programme for the Innovation Day was broadcast live. A recording of the day is available below, but the presenters' slides are on the new innovation website: opinbernyskopun.island.is
The presentation by the staff of Hafnarfjörður municipality, Fanney D. Halldórsdóttir, Director of Education, and Hulda Björk Finnsdóttir, Project Manager, begins at 1:25:06.
