Public Technology and Innovation Planning

The business unit Public Technology and Innovation Planning (TIP) supports civilian public sector clients by providing strategic planning support. The aim is to promote the advancement and new development of capabilities by identifying specific innovation needs and co-creatively developing customized technical and process-oriented solutions. Strategic innovation needs in the public sector arise from the necessity to adapt to significant societal changes. These include, for example, digitalization, geopolitical situations or adjustments to climate change such as the energy transition, which require far-reaching transformation processes at a societal and organizational level.

Clients

Our clients include institutions such as:

• European Commission
• Federal Ministry of Education and Research
• Other ministries at federal and state level
• National and international organizations and stakeholders – including at municipal level
• Authorities and organizations with security tasks (BOS)

Systematic planning process

In the business unit TIP, we systematically and comprehensively design the process of technology and innovation planning for public sector clients. This process begins with the development of user-relevant scenarios and extends to needs assessment, identification of possible solutions, analysis of the operational context, evaluation and validation, and the creation of a roadmap for practical implementation.

Methods and techniques

The development of new, user-specific solutions requires long-term innovation planning. One focus of our work is to enable our clients to methodically anticipate future developments and identify capability gaps. Future-oriented needs assessments and strategic planning require co-creative development processes that involve all stakeholders. In our modular strategic planning process, we primarily use methods of participatory research that we further adapt and customize. These include techniques such as the World Cafés, brainstorming, brainwriting, Design Thinking and gamified formats. In addition, citizen science methods promote the involvement of the public in development processes relevant for society.

Support from the social sciences

To support these inclusive and user-oriented innovation processes, we also use social science methods such as interviews, surveys and stakeholder network analyses. A common feature in our strategic planning process is the continuous question of necessary collaborations: Who should we work with in which area? This leads to important networking and exchange activities at both national and international levels.

In our projects, we address key societal and technological challenges. Topics such as participatory research, resilience, risk management and ethics shape our work and are crucial for sustainable and future-oriented development. This glossary provides an overview of the most important methods and concepts that are incorporated into our research work. By linking these topics in an interdisciplinary way, we help integrate scientific innovations into societal and political decision-making processes.