Strengthening the Innovative Capacity of the Public Sector of Bulgaria

Executive summary

Bulgaria's State Administration faces institutional challenges that hinder its ability to implement reforms to spur economic growth and improve living standards. This is further reinforced by low and declining levels of public trust, with only 19% of people expressing confidence in the national government in 2022. Addressing citizens’ needs in innovative ways can improve the public’s satisfaction and trust. The 2024 OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions shows that increasing the ability of public agencies to adopt new ideas can enhance the government’s responsiveness, ultimately helping to restore trust in public institutions.

Bulgaria has introduced public sector innovations to boost economic development, improve its research system, and digitalise public services. However, while these top-down efforts have contributed to an emerging innovative capacity, they remain fragmented and are not sufficient to address the country's challenges and accelerate social and economic convergence with more advanced economies.

The State Administration acknowledges the need for greater efforts to expand its innovative capacity. This report highlights opportunities for Bulgaria to promote innovation and create a supportive environment in the public sector.

Key findings

• A survey answered by over 3,700 public servants and heads of organisations in Bulgaria showed that a wide range of drivers influence innovative efforts in an unfocused way. The country lacks a strategic framework and central co-ordination in public sector innovation. This deficit of clear priorities and direction could hinder the achievement of the State Administration’s main goals.

• Over 50% of public servants indicated involvement in innovation in the State Administration over the last two years, yet participation was predominantly executive and middle managers. This top-down approach could limit the scope and effectiveness of innovation efforts.

• Public servants engaged in innovative projects face limited opportunities for internal collaboration and resource constraints, especially due to limited access to digital expertise support and data, and limited digital skills across the Administration.

• Explicit institutional support for public sector innovation in Bulgaria exists but is underdeveloped. An innovation network and an annual innovation competition support the widespread adoption of new methods, create practical solutions, and diffuse innovations. However, they suffer from low awareness, limited participation, and a narrow range of activities.

• Bulgaria lacks dedicated funding for public sector innovation. Mechanisms such as spending reviews for public sector innovation are limited. As such, current innovations focus mainly on incremental approaches, thereby limiting investment in more transformative opportunities.

• The State Administration could benefit from consistent monitoring and evaluation of public sector innovation. Moreover, there is little communication about public sector innovation results, limiting the visibility of innovative efforts.

• There has been limited and sporadic training on public sector innovation, mainly focused on senior staff. Consequently, only 27% of public servants have the skills to manage and apply innovation processes.

• Public servants, and particularly less senior staff, reported generally low levels of permission to innovate. Only 32% of public servants perceive recognition for innovative work or autonomy to seek new working methods.

• Bulgaria lacks a workforce strategy, as its previous 2014-2020 Public Administration Development Strategy remains outdated. Formal mechanisms such as competency frameworks and performance management assessments do not integrate public sector innovation. As such, the main incentive for innovating is public servants’ personal motivation.

What can the Government of Bulgaria do?

Strategic steering of public sector innovation

• Develop a vision of how public sector innovation can contribute to the 2030 National Development Programme; and create an action plan and a working group that put forward a co-ordinated approach for implementation.

• Develop the Council of Ministers’ Administration’s role in aligning public sector innovation capacity with government priorities; steering, co-ordinating, and monitoring cross-government innovation implementation; and providing high-level guidance for strategic innovation planning across the administration.

Leadership, management, and support for public sector innovation

• Foster a bottom-up approach to innovation by developing a public administration culture that values and supports innovative efforts. Provide civil servants with the resources, time, training, and internal communications to encourage innovative approaches at all levels of the State Administration, especially less senior staff.

• Consider initiatives to raise awareness of the public servant mobility programme, support innovative procurement, and offer financial incentives to enhance internal collaboration and resource allocation within the State Administration. These efforts should focus on enhancing digital and data skills, citizen engagement practices, and improving the setting of innovation priorities.

• Establish deliberate support for public sector innovation, including a programme to incubate and scale-up cross-government solutions. Upgrade and increase the scope of the current innovation network and competition. Use these mechanisms to provide dedicated guidance and training for innovation-complementary approaches such as behavioural science.

Funding, evaluation, and communication of public sector innovation

• Use spending reviews to identify policy options to reallocate funds to high-priority innovation areas. Consider setting up a central fund for public sector innovation to support more long-term transformative innovation that improves public outcomes.

• Enhance monitoring and evaluation practices by developing a framework for monitoring innovative efforts and enhancing capacity for evaluation through training and guidance.

• Increase awareness about innovation results by developing a communication plan, setting up a repository of successful cases, and carrying out a yearly public sector innovation event.

Skills and competencies to innovate at all levels

• Expand current State Administration training offer in innovation to encompass all levels and functions across the civil service. Establish “learning by doing” cross-government capacity-building programmes that combine skills for applied innovation, digital and data, and citizen participation, with different durations and scopes.

Workforce and incentive strategy for widespread public sector innovation

• Update the State Administration’s competency frameworks and performance management guidelines to explicitly include innovation-related incentives, competencies, and behaviours. Support and monitor the implementation of these measures across all human resource management areas and provide complementary training to ensure their effective adoption.

• Update the Administration’s strategic workforce plan and include innovation as central for recruitment and professional development, ultimately, improving the attractiveness of the administration as an employer. This plan should consider formal incentives and reward mechanisms, leadership training and mentorship to improve supportive risk-taking, and safe spaces to practice innovation competencies in the civil service.