The research conducted for the report “Social Entrepreneurship and Government: A New Breed of Entrepreneurs Developing Solutions to Social Problems” identified six roles for government in a new era of supporting social innovation and entrepreneurship. Government leaders who embrace any or all of these roles are the new public innovators: government officials who look to citizens and organizations in the private and nonprofit sectors as partners in order to accelerate innovative, results-oriented, and sustainable solutions to our nation’s, and the world’s, toughest social problems.

Roles of the Public Innovator

1. Encourage social innovation - Public innovators can encourage social innovation and help spur the testing of promising new approaches to solving social problems.
2. Foster a supportive policy environment - The very nature of innovation means that social entrepreneurs will be heading into new territory, and they often encounter unexpected barriers along the way. Public innovators can lift such barriers. In addition, merely by lending credibility and drawing attention to a given issue or initiatives, they can help proven models gather momentum.
3. Reward initiatives for exceptional performance - Access to reliable sources of funding is essential to the growth and sustainability of solutions that work. By tying decisions about funding and purchasing to performance, government can help ensure that solutions that work will sustain and grow their impact.
4. Spread successful approaches - Expanding the reach of a proven solution is often critical if the solution is to become truly transformative. Yet acquiring the recognition, support for spreading, or funding to scale a successful initiative is notoriously difficult. Government can play a crucial role in expanding the reach of solutions that work by seeking out what works and enabling solutions to spread.
5. Produce knowledge to understand performance - Government already serves as a critical source of data and standards. Public innovators can play a critical role in ensuring that knowledge is produced, clearer standards are set, and data is easily accessible.
6. Catalyze public-private partnerships - Public leaders who leverage the many resources available across all sectors - and succeed in bringing various stakeholders to the table in order to advance effective solutions - can have an impact much greater than any solution focused solely on one institution or sector.