For 40 years, the UAE has defined success in development and diversification — with governments facilitating growth through prudent investment, but also by nurturing a culture of private sector innovation which has established cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi as global centres of cutting-edge commerce.

The thing with innovation however, is that it must not stop. As countless previously great multinationals around the world lay testament, to rely upon the status quo or a short-term advantage is often a fast-track to failure.

This need for constant progression is as true in the Gulf as anywhere else in the world. Compounded by the fact that oil reserves are no longer a guarantor of growth and security, the ongoing creation of economic opportunities, expansion and employment, especially for young people, must be a priority. But how best to further catalyse what has clearly stood out as one of the most ambitious regions of our day?

Increasingly, leading governments around the world are moving from being enablers of private sector innovation, to co-contributors, participants and pioneers of innovation. At PwC, we call this approach innovation-driven government (IDG) — where innovation becomes an organisational imperative for the public sector itself, rather than exclusively the domain of the private.

Central to operating an IDG is an understanding that innovation cannot be reduced to a definition — but instead must be a holistic, nurtured, organic process founded upon both an organisational and individual goal of progressivism. Key to this in the public sector is an accurate acknowledgement of the challenges facing societies and an ability to be open-minded about different approaches to solutions.

Taking procurement as an example, if a government goes out to tender seeking a specific approach, process or product, this often removes solutions which may work better. Quite simply, if you already have the thing in mind that you want, you are not being innovative and you are not opening yourself up to what is possible.

Instead, the public sector needs to frame a challenge or ambition and allow bidders to creatively suggest approaches that might be non-conventional — this is true when procuring services or products.

Other elements of IDG include:

* Collaboration and engagement — with the private sector, among public sector entities themselves and among public servants;

* Strategy — where innovation becomes part of a whole of government approach;

* Culture and talent — where failure and experimentation are celebrated;

* Investments in R&D and digital innovation — where government innovation goes beyond taking government services online and embraces new public sector uses for emergent technologies;

innovation process — where design thinking is at the core of policy formulation.

Even when a culture is present that encourages out-of-the-box solutions, innovative approaches can often be stifled by regulation. Although a complete step-change in a collective mindset is often impossible overnight, through incremental innovation, through solving or simply finding challenges that no one else has, government excellence can be taken that bit further each time.

Often, this requires considerable boldness — whilst benchmarking against other businesses or governments used to be possible as an aspiration, now there is no time to aspire, no time to look at what others are doing and catch up. In innovation, a leading benchmark is now a starting point.

To its credit, the UAE and many of its government entities are already leading the way in IDG adoption, and it was a central theme of the World Government Summit. Dubai has seen the creation of the 10X scheme — mandating that every government entity set up an internal unit responsible for accelerating disruption in its area of operation and through this drive change and innovation both internally and externally.

Dubai is also at the forefront of exploring blockchain-based business registration, central banking and trade, with a goal to become the first blockchain-powered government in the world by 2020. Through such initiatives, the UAE has taken critical first leaps in discovering what is possible when government acts as an active co-participant in the innovation ecosystem rather than just a sponsor.

This is a marathon rather than a sprint, and alongside the short-term catalyst of encouraging innovation in already developed administrative systems, the longer term ambition to ensure that entire governments are truly driven by innovation will take patience and persistence.

The results will be well worth it.

The writer is Partner at PwC.