SHAH ALAM, April 14 — Public sector innovation in Selangor has become a key platform for sharing best practices and strengthening governance reform, with the state serving as the starting point for a broader national innovation drive.
Public Sector Reform Division director Syuhaida Abdul Wahab said Selangor was selected as the first state for the 2026 Public Sector Innovation programme to inspire other states in advancing public sector innovation.
The programme serves as a strategic platform for sharing best practices and strengthening a culture of innovation across the public service.
“The programme is a manifestation of the efforts and achievements of various agencies, and it serves as a strategic platform to share best practices, while fostering a culture of innovation and holistic excellence in public service delivery,” she said during the programme’s launch at the MBSA Convention Centre today.
Syuhaida added that innovation is essential to public-sector transformation and warned that stagnation would undermine service delivery and public trust.
“Failure to innovate will cause organisations to become static and affect the quality of service delivery to the people.
“Public officers must move out of their comfort zones and shift from being implementers to creators,” she said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ (UN DESA) governance and public administration officer Elizabeth Niland said Malaysia is well placed to strengthen its innovation agenda due to its strong foundation in governance reform.
Her organisation’s ongoing project to strengthen public-sector innovation strategies aims to help countries, including Malaysia, integrate innovation more deeply into government systems and service delivery.
“We observe the most successful examples of how governments manage change and innovate, and we want to bring that wealth of international experience to our partnership and work with Malaysia,” Niland said in a recorded speech.
She added that the UN DESA supports global public administration through initiatives such as the UN Public Service Forum and Awards, the World Public Sector Report, and the UN E-Government Survey, which track global trends in governance transformation.
Niland emphasised that innovation must go beyond technology and include people, processes, and policies.
She also stressed that innovation requires a cultural shift within government, supported by enabling conditions such as experimentation and strategic partnerships, to ensure sustainability and impact.
