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Highlights of KDI School’s Research Lab: Open Government and Innovation (OGI) Lab

  • Date 2022-05-24 09:44
  • CategoryResearch and Education
  • Hit2542


KDI School is home to nine research labs staffed by highly experienced faculty and experts. The aims of the research labs in KDI School are to enhance research productivity by consolidating research capabilities; establish partnerships with other research institutes and facilitate research projects across disciplines and regions; strengthen linkages and optimize synergies between education and research, further strengthening KDI School's position as a research university. Today, we will be introducing the Open Government and Innovation Lab. This introduction is based on an interview with Professor Taejun (David) Lee, the head of the Open Government and Innovation Lab (OGI Lab) at KDI School.



The OGI Lab at KDI School seeks to advance research into digital transformation, open government, public sector modernization and innovation, and the public communication and media ecosystem.

 

Please describe the mission and vision of the OGI Lab as well as the members.

The agenda of the OGI Lab is to explore the core questions and issues connected to governing transformative change, to analyze emerging practices and mechanisms in anticipatory innovation governance, to empirically test various innovation governance mechanisms via action research on the government, and to validate different operating models inside governments, also including factors and conditions that enable a sustainable anticipatory capability. The OGI Lab also envisions building new frameworks and tools for policy evidence that could eventually feed into budgeting, evaluation, and organizational design. The lab finally aims to critique and diffuse emerging practices and lessons with our project partners and global network of governments. The core members of the OGI Lab, apart from Professor Taejun Lee, are Professor Wonhyuk Lim, Professor Jongyearn Lee, Professor Seulki Choi, and Professor Junesoo Lee. The OGI lab also draws on expertise from outside KDI School.


Please let us know about the funding model and collaborations of the OGI Lab and whether the OGI Lab has overseas partnerships.

The OGI Lab at KDI School is funded by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Prime Minister’s Office. The OGI Lab has previously collaborated with governments in the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, and ASEAN countries. The OGI Lab has also engaged with consulting firms, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, the OECD, research institutions, international organizations, and the media.


Please tell us about the lab's research methodology and its multidisciplinary approach to policy issues and concerns.

In terms of research, the OGI Lab focuses on multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder research to solve problems through interventions and cooperation. The end goal of this research methodology is to have more vibrant democracies which lead to more inclusive and sustainable development. This multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach rejects the traditional dichotomy of qualitative and quantitative methods and seeks the help of both the methods to formulate innovative methods. The future, with the advent of new disruptive technologies, is different from the present. Therefore, we need to make future-fit policies actively and proactively. To pursue this goal, the OGI Lab is engaged in future-driven research for when less government will be needed to do more governance.

 

Please explain how Korea's development and innovation experience might benefit developing countries, Professor Lee. Furthermore, in the Korean context, what are the priorities of the Open Government and Innovation Lab (OGI Lab)?

KDI School’s Open Government and Innovation Lab (OGI Lab) is also focusing on how to share Korea’s development experience with developing countries, particularly in the context of public management and K-culture. The Korean Creative Industry, more popularly known as K-culture, has created new jobs and helped to enhance the soft power of Korea in global society. The OGI Lab is also interested in sharing the Korean governance model with the world. The Korean governance structure has some bureaucratic features, but it's still flexible. In the Korean context, the OGI Lab is engaged in issues like increasing the trust of citizens in government, carbon neutrality, and better training of public officials.

 

The KDIS News Center has published interviews about the Open Government and Innovation Lab (OGI Lab) and other labs at KDI School. We encourage all KDI School members to follow the interesting and dynamic research conducted by the different research labs. The research labs at KDI School are an important collaborative hub for academic data-driven research in a range of different policy areas in Korea and globally.

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