MOSAIK - Method for public Sector Approach for Innovation Culture

The goal of the project is to develop the innovation culture of the municipal organisation of Knivsta. Knivsta is one of Sweden's fastest growing municipalities. In particular, the project focuses on the development of systematic innovation management through the hackathon methodology, which enables to solve common problems and challenges across organisational boundaries. The essence of the hackathon methodology is to enable the involvement of the entire personnel through their capabilities and commitment. In the three-year project, hackathon is researched, developed and piloted as a method for innovation management in the municipal organisation context. Study is carried out with action research strategy and multi-method approach. The aim is to demonstrate how the innovation culture and management style of a municipal organisation can be improved with the use of new and innovative organisational management methods systematically by involving the personnel in a cross-organizational manner.

Municipal organisations face special challenges in areas of rapid growth. Rapid growth puts exceptional pressure on the development process of a municipal organisation. Moreover, the overall challenges posed by rapid growth place greater demands on the innovation capability of the whole municipal organisation. Knivsta is the youngest municipality in Sweden, in terms of its founding time and the average age of the population. The central location has made Knivsta the second fastest growing municipality in Sweden in the last decade. In organisations, a culture that enables innovation, i.e. an innovation culture, is seen as means to respond to the pressures and demands of the change in a way that involves the entire personnel. The innovation culture is based on the principles and practices of the organisational learning and the concept of a learning organisation. Knivsta aims to develop its innovation culture so that the municipality can meet the diverse challenges posed by its rapid growth.

The goal of the project is to develop the innovation culture of the municipal organisation in Knivsta, one of Sweden's fastest growing municipalities. In the three-year project, the hackathon is researched, developed and piloted as a method for innovation management in the municipal organisation context. In practice, the project will execute three cross-organisational hackathon events. In the pre-hackathon phase, surveys and training of personnel are carried out. In the post-hackathon phase, the innovation implementation process of voluntary participant teams is actively monitored and supported.  The aim is to demonstrate how the innovation culture and management style of the municipal organisation can be systematically improved by means of new and innovative organisational management methods, such as the hackathon, by involving the whole personnel in a cross-organizational manner. Due to the Covid-19 situation, the second hackathon was carried out as a virtual hackathon in 11.11.2020. The research carried out with the action research strategy with multi-method approach, such as continuous active participation in the organisation's innovation activities, in order to enable and verify the organisational change. Furthermore, since 4.3.2020 the research methodology has been adjusted to the Covid-19 situation and thus carried out as virtual action research. Therefore, the research situation also provides new empirical data on digitalization in action research setting.

Formas https://formas.se
Smart Built Environment https://www.smartbuilt.se/
Vinnova https://www.vinnova.se/
Energimyndigheten https://www.energimyndigheten.se/

Knivsta municipality in Sweden

The project is carried out in collaboration with Knivsta municipality, curlabs ab and Tampere University NOVI-research team.