Creating space for cross-pollinating ideas, addressing key challenges and showcasing innovations.

In this day and age of alternative service options and the nearly ubiquitous presence of digital technologies, there are growing expectations on governments, non-government actors and businesses to address delivery challenges and improve quality effectively and sustainably.

a2i showcases and celebrates successful case studies of innovations in public service delivery in an unprecedented way through:

• Annual Civil Service in Development Innovation Summits

• District Level Innovation Fairs

Raising citizens’ awareness and engaging them in public service innovation

The summits and in particular, the district-level innovation fairs organized across all 64 districts of the country, are a key element of our strategy to make the entire innovation culture in Bangladesh public-facing. The events are always designed to be open to the public as they are meant to enhance the awareness of Bangladeshi citizens about the government’s proactive efforts to develop an array of better, more affordable services that are easier for them to access. They also create an environment of healthy competition among civil servants from different government agencies, especially at the field level, to reach out to citizens and engage them in the process of improving public services.

Showcasing local innovations and creating an international network of public service innovators

The Civil Service in Development Innovation Summits are high-profile, international events, hosted by the Honourable Prime Minister’s Office, that bring together remarkable innovators, development practitioners, heads of states, ministers, bureaucrats and thought leaders from the world’s most respected ‘innovation nations’, companies and academic institutions.

They create an open forum to cross-pollinate ideas, explore novel solutions to key development challenges and provide a platform for innovators spanning civil service, the private sector, NGOs, universities and even private individuals to showcase their innovations and the most inspiring success stories of Digital Bangladesh internationally South-South and Triangular Cooperation are also reinforced through these events which facilitate greater exchange of learning and the development of collective insights on:

• Contextualizing proven models and good practices in scaling innovations in public service delivery

• Development of the necessary capacities (including leadership capacity) and incentives (financial and non-financial) in countries from the Global South