Shared Motivations

The Public Management LAB is born with the mission to respond to three shared motivations that reflect the current needs and challenges of society and public administrations:

• Addressing a growing social demand. Society requires more and better public services, and the resources available to administrations are, by definition, limited. In this context, good management and quality leadership become key variables.

• Having a more solid and esteemed public governance. For public management to be successful, a governance model is required where politics and public management are better articulated, and trust is generated among the different public and private actors and citizens.

• Strengthening the significance of public management. There is a perceived lack of social and political appreciation for the importance of public management. This affects the attraction of talent to the public sector, in a context of generational renewal that will be crucial.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of the Public Management LAB is to build a reference of knowledge about public management that facilitates collaboration and dialogue between different actors and promotes the importance of public management in the creation of public value. Its specific objectives include:

• Developing a knowledge core linked to public values, democratic quality, and the efficiency, equity, and quality of public services.

• Consolidating the strategic, operational, and relational capacities of the public sector.

• Promoting the prestige of the public sector through evidence of excellent management of public goods and services.

• Highlighting the importance of public management in public debate.

Impact Axes

The Public Management LAB is organized around five main impact axes that will guide its activities and research:

• Creating a community. Generating an ecosystem of key actors interested in improving the design and delivery of public services. Encouraging collaboration and synergies with centers of excellence.

• Identification and study of success stories. Analyzing national and international success and failure cases in central public areas.

• Impact studies. Joint development of quantitative studies that demonstrate the social impact of concrete actions developed in the field of public management.

• Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. Developing basic and applied knowledge in innovation and artificial intelligence for the improvement of public service provision.

• Promotion in the media. Producing opinion pieces and academic articles on optimal institutional contexts for the quality of public management.

Structure

The Public Management LAB is composed of three structural elements:

• Executive Council. Functions: setting the strategy and guiding the activity.

• Advisory Council. Functions: providing assistance for strategic direction and evaluating the effectiveness of the LAB.

• Esade. Functions: providing knowledge in the field of public management from academic excellence in an innovative learning ecosystem with an international vision.

20 Institutions

The Public Management LAB is supported by 20 prominent institutions that contribute to its mission with resources and expertise. These institutions are:

• Agència de Residus de Catalunya (Catalan Waste Agency)

• Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barcelona City Council)

• Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (Metropolitan Area of Barcelona)

• Barcelona Regional

• BIMSA

• BSM

• Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation)

• Consorci de la Zona Franca (Zona Franca Consortium)

• Diputació de Barcelona (Barcelona Provincial Council)

• Esade

• Fira de Barcelona (Barcelona Trade Fair)

• Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia)

• Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul)

• IRTA

• Localret

• Mercabarna

• Mobile World Capital

• Port de Barcelona (Port of Barcelona)

• Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (Barcelona Metropolitan Transport)

• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Autonomous University of Barcelona)