Openly Connected: Creating a Sustainable Network to Support Public Innovation and Open Government in Colombia

A team of five SIPA students partnered with Fundación Corona, a nonprofit private foundation based in Colombia, on a capstone project titled “Openly Connected: How to Create a Sustainable Network to Support Public Innovation and Open Government.” The project aimed to promote transparency, participation, accountability, and collaboration. Over seven months, the team focused on gathering insights on innovation through public networks across the world, Open Government, and good governance to understand how innovation networks work and if they could be built and/or enhanced in the context of Open Government in Colombia. The team incorporated diverse perspectives through extensive research on existing innovation networks worldwide, online surveys, and expert interviews. A key finding revealed that public servants in Colombia value the principles of Open Government, but there is room for improvement. The team recommended establishing a large-scale network of innovators composed of public officials, civil society organizations, and academia that would work towards a common goal, starting with subnational challenges to test the project’s effectiveness before scaling up.