GovLab Arnsberg, founded in April 2018, is a public sector innovation lab within the District Government of Arnsberg in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany. The mission of the lab is to test and integrate innovative technologies and new working methods in order to improve and reinvent administrative processes in the public sector. Its focus is on the impact and the core benefits for end-users (citizens as well as administrative staff), which are included in GovLab’s innovation processes from the beginning. GovLab Arnsberg has created a network of employees from the District Government of Arnsberg as well as actors from politics, business and civil society. This document analyses as specific initiative the co-creation of GovLab Arnsberg’s project on the ‘LEADER-Chatbot: Development of a digital regional manager’.
Keywords: lab as a ‘change agent’, creation of trust among institutions, lab as a link between ministries, communities, municipal authorities, citizens & associations, introduction of new working methods, change of mindset, organizational change