On the day he announced a package of measures that will modernise and streamline the public procurement system in the United Kingdom, Francis Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office and paymaster general, addressed an event hosted by the Government of the Future Centre. Malcolm Harbour, chair of the internal market and consumer protection committee and member of the Bureau at the European Parliament, also made a forceful call to use public procurement as a lever for more innovation and economic dynamism.

Convening under the timely theme Modernising the State for the Post-Crisis World, The 2011 Government of the Future Summit gathered European decision makers and senior government officials and explored key topics, such as the role of innovation in public services and the importance of state institutions in driving forward growth in the economy at large. Among the highlights were The 2011 Jean Monnet Lecture delivered by Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the Eurogroup and prime minister of Luxembourg; the launch of a new publication Driving Public Entrepreneurship: Government as a Catalyst for Innovation and Growth in Europe, produced jointly by the Government of the Future Centre and Oxford Economics; the presentation of an animated video clip about the Government of the Future Centre; interventions from Meglena Kuneva, chair, Government Executive Innovation Circle and former European Commissioner; Pierre Nanterme, CEO, Accenture; Paul Demaret, rector, College of Europe; Rolf Alter, director, directorate for public governance and territorial development, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); John Walker, chairman, Oxford Economics and co-author of Driving Public Entrepreneurship: Government as a Catalyst for Innovation and Growth in Europe; Thomas Børner, chairman, programme for welfare technology foundation, Ministry of Finance, Denmark; Tom Auwers, director-general, Federal Public Service Social Security, Belgium; Ruggero Golino, head of division, temporary welfare benefits, National Institute for Social Security, Italy; Roser Artal, director, organisation and information technology, Catalan Health Department, Spain; Timo Laitinen, director-general, State Treasury, Finland and François-Daniel Migeon, director-general, state modernisation, Ministry of the Budget, Public Accounts, Civil Service and State Reform, France.

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Convening under the timely theme Unleashing Europe’s Single Market: How Public Procurement Can Deepen Integration, Drive Innovation and Bolster Efficiency, this high-level roundtable brought together senior leaders from across Europe with responsibility for public procurement. Jonathan Faull, director-general of DG Internal Market and Service at the European Commission, kicked off the discussion with an overview of the Single Market Act. His remarks were complemented by Malcolm Harbour, chair of the committee on the internal market and consumer protection at the European Parliament. In an interactive working group, participants compared and shared best practices on public procurement in, inter alia, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Special presentations were delivered by Gian Luigi Albano, head for research and development at the Italian Public Procurement Agency (CONSIP); Jacques Barrailler, head of the French State Procurement Agency; Sally Collier, executive director of the efficiency reform group at the UK Cabinet Office and Pedro Llorente Cachorro, director-general for economic and sales management of health and pharmaceutical products at the department of health from City of Madrid.

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The Government of the Future Centre gathered in Brussels a group of distinguished government executives from various member states as well as European officials to discuss the key role of employment agencies and educational institutions in delivering greater employment and world-class skills development. Among the prominent speakers were Xavier Prats Monné, deputy director-general for education at the European Commission’s directorate-general for education and culture; Annie Gauvin, director for studies, evaluations and international affairs at Pôle emploi in France; Lluís Anaya Torres, IT director of the department for employment at the Government of Catalonia, Spain; Markus Schmitz, managing director of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit in Germany; Ihsan Ajwad, senior economist, human development economics at the World Bank; Peter Went, CEO of WCC Smart Search & Match and Jan-Erik Hunn, human service lead for Europe, Africa and Latin America at Accenture.

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Convening under the timely theme Sustainable Public Finances: Restoring Balance, Improving Performance, this high-level roundtable brought together European decision makers and senior government officials responsible for making their nation’s public finances more sustainable. Among the speakers were Eric Woerth, member of the French National Assembly and former minister for the budget; Paul van den Noord, counsellor to the chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Antoine Brugidou, global director for management consulting, health and public service in Accenture; Michael Mossakowski, counsellor for the Belgian secretary of state for modernisation of the Federal Public Service; Gerry Harrahill, collector general at the Irish Office of Revenue Commissioners; Maria Teresa Monteduro, economist at the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finances and Lucio Pench, director for fiscal policy in the directorate-general for economic and financial affairs at the European Commission.

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College of Europe students presented case studies on state transformation to a distinguished jury, chaired by Meglena Kuneva, former European Commissioner. The 2011 case studies include the following projects: the Italian National Institute for Social Security, the Valencia Health Department, the Norwegian Tax Administration and the Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security. The students received valuable feedback and constructive suggestions on how to improve their presentations, in time for their next visit to the agencies that are serving as case studies. The event was rounded off by a presentation by Servaas Deroose, deputy director-general of DG economic and financial affairs at the European Commission, laying out the prospects for Europe’s economic recovery.

In a forceful intervention, Christian Bason, director, author and Ph.D fellow at MindLab, the Danish innovation agency, introduced his new book Leading Public Sector Innovation: Co-Creating for a Better Society. He explained how the current crisis can act as an historic catalyst for innovation and better, more responsive government. Mr. Bason’s enlightening presentation was followed by inspiring comments from Peter Dröll, head of unit for policy development for industrial innovation in the directorate-general for enterprise and industry at the European Commission.

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Convening just two days before the June European Council, the Government of the Future Summit convened under the timely theme of ‘Exiting the Crisis: Citizens, Society and State Transformation in the 21st Century.’ Organised by the Lisbon Council, in collaboration with the College of Europe and Accenture, the summit brought together senior government and civil service leaders to explore key themes such as innovation in the public sector and providing more and better services despite strained government finances.  The summit was kicked off by Pier Carlo Padoan, deputy secretary-general and chief economist of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) who delivered The 2010 Jean Monnet Lecture on ‘The Challenge of State Transformation in the Post-Crisis Era.’ The summit also launched a new publication, Building a Better Future in an Age of Transformation which summarises four case studies on state transformation prepared by Collge of Europe Students.

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As part of the newly created Government of the Future Centre, the Lisbon Council convened the first-of-its-kind High-Level Public Sector Network. In this first gathering, its members served as a jury for case studies on state transformation presented by students from the College of Europe, one of the founding partners of the Government of the Future Centre.

The fresh ideas and solution-oriented contributions from these leaders of tomorrow were attentively followed and critiqued by the jury who provided constructive feedback on case studies in the field of healthcare, employment, sustainability and Government 2.0.