Top 20 lessons learned on scaling up innovations from the Open Data Initiative at the World Bank. The Open Data Initiative has transformed the way the World Bank shares and publishes its data enabling users to have free, open and easy access to data instead of a previously mostly proprietary data policy. How did such a radical change come about? How was it possible that our early very modest endeavors to implement innovations in governance could be scaled up and be replicated across so many different areas at the Bank? How could a vibrant community of innovators from within and outside the Bank come together share experiences, learn from each other and, most important, help to make an important institutional change -- launch an Open Data initiative and empower citizens to provide direct feedback on development programs?

1. From the ideal to the real: 20 lessons from scaling up innovations at the
World Bank
SUBMITTED BY SOREN GIGLER ON FRI, 11/20/2015
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On a brisk February morning in 2010, a small group of my World Bank colleagues, a
few AidData partners, and I were in brainstorming mode. Our topic of discussion: how we could make a
meaningful, measurable difference in making our development projects more open, transparent, and
effective.
One idea lit us all up: putting development on a map. We envisioned an open platform that citizens
around the world could use to look up local development projects and provide direct feedback. We were
inspired by “open evangelists” like Beth Novek, Hans Rosling and Viveck Kundra.
Testing of the citizen feedback platform with local community members in ruralCochabamba, Bolivia
However, there was one challenge: how could we help make the World Bank’s data and numerous data
sets fully open, free, shareable, and easily accessible to anyone? At the time, the large majority of these
data sets were proprietary, and those who had access to key data sets were a relatively limited number of
technical specialists.
In addressing this issue, we were fortunate. We worked closely as a small, creative, and highly committed
team of innovators from different parts of the Bank to gradually open up the Bank’s data. To be honest,
no one on our small team of incubators could have predicted that we would be able to scale up our early
innovations so rapidly and that they would result in such important changes in the Bank’s approach to
data and openness.

2. Hence, we were delighted when the World Bank announced on April 20, 2010 that openness and
accountability were essentialto development and, that it had thrown open the doors to its databases and
called it the Open Data initiative. The Bank also challenged the global community to use the data to
create new applications and solutions to help reduce poverty. Following the Open Data initiative
came Open Finances, Mapping for Results (blog and news story), the Open Aid Partnership, and
then Open Government programs, which help to open up budgets, contracts, and aid flow information.
How did such a radical change come about? How was it possible that our early very modest endeavors to
implement innovations in governance could be scaled up and be replicated across so many different areas
at the Bank? How could a vibrant community of innovators from within and outside the Bank come
together share experiences, learn from each other and, most important, help to make an important
institutional change -- launch an Open Data initiative and empower citizens to provide direct feedback on
development programs?

3. Consultation workshop with rural youth in Tiwanaku, Bolivia
To answer these very questions, I’ve compiled below the top 20 lessons learned from our team’s
collective journey over the last five years.
1. Identify a clear gap that is operationally relevant and currently not being filled at least at the
institutional level.
2. Closely link innovative approaches to a key corporate priority. Strengthening the results agenda
and enhancing the effectiveness and inclusiveness of Bank-financed programs are key.
3. Define the problem. Be as specific as possible about which aspect of the broader development
challenge you would like to address. (i.e. improve Bank-financed programs at the sub-national level,
enhance the inclusiveness of the delivery of public services).
4. Be willing to take risks and learn lessons from early failures. In Silicon Valley, over 70% of
innovations in the IT sector fail. Public institutions by nature are many times risk averse- a key aspect
of innovation however is ‘doing business differently’- and being willing to take on more risks is
critical to provide innovators with the necessary space to experiment, adjust, iterate, incubate and
scale-up.
5. Start small but think big. It is key to first develop severalfocused pilots that have a demonstration
effect, while having a clear strategy in mind about how these pilots can be scaled up over time.
Implement severalsmall-scale pilots applying a very flexible approach of rapid iteration, learning and
adaptation. At the same time, involve key institutional partners early on in the process in order to
build strong partnerships that are needed to scale-up these pilots over time.
6. Use a programmatic approach. Go beyond innovations at the project level. Frequently there are
scattered isolated innovations underway, however they are often small in scale or limited to a single
project. Aim for applying the innovative approach to a sector or country, not just one project.
7. Identify strategic allies (reform champions) within the institution and connect the internal change
agents with each other. Leverage thought leaders and innovators from outside the organization and
connect them to your internal champions.
8. Develop a clear and simple narrative early on. Identify the state-of-the-art know-how in the specific
area of innovation and leverage external expertise to develop a clear and simple narrative about your
program.

4. 9. Engage critics or skeptics early on and expose them to new ideas from outside the
organization. Spotlight cases that demonstrate that these innovative approaches have worked
somewhere else, or are currently under way.
10. Create an open, creative, and collaborative environment. Have management provide staff a
working environment where everyone can be creative, freely share ideas and think outside the box.
11. Be selective and targeted. In the initial phase of developing your program ideas, it is key to allow for
a very broad-based, open and creative brainstorming process to take place. In the second phase, it is
critical to narrow down your ideas, be highly selective, and focus on the programs you will support.
12. Use both a bottom-up and top-down approach. Work together with peers and working groups to
gain momentum from the bottom and obtain strong support from senior management. Many
innovations fail since they are either ‘mandated’ from the top or only have support at the grassroots
level.
13. Take a look at the bigger picture.Remove yourself from the urgencies of daily operations.
Frequently, operational staff is so focused on preparing or supervising a project that people don’t have
the time nor the energy to see the big picture.
14. Combine technical expertise with knowledge on institutional change. It is key to have technical
competency and a very good understanding of both the institutional opportunities and barriers to the
proposed reforms.
15. Assemble multidisciplinary teams that bring together very diverse skill sets and have very different
experiences inside and outside the organization.
16. Document lessons learned and experiences from early stage innovations and listen in on expertise
from strategic advisors on how these innovations can be taken to scale.
17. Cultivate and maintain an institutional partner within the organization. Do not try to advance
innovations in governance in isolation from operations. Aim for embedding these innovative
approaches into operations early on in your program implementation.
18. Develop a clear strategy where institutional policies and systems can be changed in order for the
innovation to be taken to scale.
19. Think about both the individual agency (ofchange champions) and institutional structures and
how they both mutually influence each other.
20. Empower staff at all levels to take risks. Frequently the most creative and innovative ideas come
from more junior level staff.
So that’s our list. While I still have your attention, here are two presentations on our Innovations for Open
Development work and our Mapping For Results work. We’d appreciate hearing your feedback in the
comment field below. And please feel free to share your own experience in implementing innovations for
development in practice.