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This piece is an excerpt from an original article published as part of the eBook El ecosistema de la Democracia Abierta series, which can be found here.

Throughout the previous decades, accelerated scientific and technological development have freed us from infinite amounts of procedures, as much intellectual as operative.

It becomes unthinkable to deny that as human beings we have a great creative and inventive capacity. However, it is also evident that despite these abilities, there are many challenges to be faced, especially when dealing with the public sector.

Currently, the trends point towards the need to redirect efforts towards open innovation as a source of value and political capital for the public sector. In this text, many cases of success in different public administration departments have been exemplified and from the perspective of innovation, they have been able to make different projects possible thanks to their participative, consensual and accessible focus. 

For that matter, the article offers a list of determining components for effective processes of innovation so that governments can face up to the challenge of equating public administration to the advances in modern digital culture that are redefining our forms of communication with the world.

Ten innovation connectors that can help contribute to the construction of an open democracy are featured in this manifesto. Within these we find innovation and collective intelligence as central strategies of public management.

They align the different goals of every governmental area regarding associative platforms, allowing frontiers of both knowing and doing of institutions to be crossed.

Thus, by following several steps and key advisory points, effective processes of innovation can be planned, through which inclusion of citizen ideas and co-creation of solutions to local problems can be achieved.