Radical Efficiency: different, better and cheaper public services

Radical Efficiency: Different, Better and Cheaper Public Services

All over the world, public services are facing funding cuts. Government may see this as a time to stop innovating and cut back on experimentation. The opposite should be the case. 

The Innovation Unit are working with NESTA to demonstrate the impact of radical efficiency - innovation in public services that leads to different and much better outcomes for users at significantly lower cost. We are developing our understanding of Radical Efficiency through successful examples from both developed and developing countries.

We are inspired by cases such as Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital in India. This hospital delivers high quality, low-cost heart surgery to those who need it and mass diagnosis and support for non-surgical cases. By reaching out through local post-office networks to learn people's medical histories, the hospital can offer remote diagnosis within 24 hours to prevent the development of acute diseases. Other examples range from a mental health first aid kit developed in Australia, to lunar powered street lights in San Francisco that save both money and the environment.

We have derived a set of core principles from these case-studies to construct the Radical Efficiency Model. The model provides a unique way in for public service leaders in all areas to start thinking differently about how to improve outcomes (radically!) and cut costs at the same time.

It is important to The Innovation Unit that our research reflects the values of Radical Efficiency. We want to engage in a research process that is open, expansive and exploratory. Over the next four months we will continuously update the Radical Efficiency wiki with our findings, discuss emerging propositions on our blog and tweet every day about what we are learning. We are constantly looking for interesting case studies to help inform this work and welcome any nominations and ideas from your experience.

All contributions will be credited in the final publication, Radical Efficiency.

If you have any case study suggestions or would like to hear more about the project, please get in touch with This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please spread the word and follow us online - we are looking for the most far-reaching possible picture of how innovation can help to deliver different, better and cheaper public services.