Target groupThe seminar is of particular interest to public sector innovators and change agents involved in or aiming at public sector innovation and social innovation. This includes public officials from central, regional and local administrations engaged in public service delivery, as well as project managers and project developers who want to improve their knowledge and practical skills in relation to social innovation methodologies.Description Continued strains on public finances, coupled with increasing challenges and greater expectations of quality public services are a reality for public administrations across Europe. The key question is, how can the public sector find radical new ways of delivering better services and outcomes at significantly lower costs?Social innovation has evolved as the core concept relevant for provision of alternative service delivery models, designed around the needs of service users, with a more strategic focus and reduced public spending as a result. Creating new solutions with people, and not for them, holds a significant potential to improve both effectiveness and efficiency in public service delivery. This seminar is implemented in cooperation with MindLab (DK), one of Europe’s leading public cross-governmental innovation units, and will focus on co-creation and human-centred design approaches to put into effect improved public service delivery. MindLab assists decision-makers and public officials in viewing new policy measures and services from an outside-in perspective, and through their activities MindLab builds co-design and co-creation competencies as a key instrument for public sector innovation.In a first step, the seminar will set the context of social innovation in Europe illustrated by hands-on case studies and outlining available funding mechanisms. During the second day, participants will actively apply co-creation tools in the public sector context, as well as benefiting directly from the interactive workshops led by MindLab. Learning methodology The seminar applies a practice-learning perspective and this benefits from a unique combination of European best practice examples to illustrate current social innovation trends, as well as interactive workshops in which participants will directly apply co-creation and design thinking tools. The best practice examples appear from editions of the European Public Sector Award (epsa2015.eu) managed by EIPA and will showcase cutting-edge examples of public sector innovation. Objectives The objective is to enhance participants’ understanding of social innovation as a concept for more cost-efficient public service delivery and to equip them with concrete tools in relation to human-centred design approaches and co-creation practices, which they will be able to apply to their own national, regional or local contexts.