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INNOFFARENA-Innovasjonsarena for stat og kommune

Facilitating innovation in county authorities’ management of road safety

Alternative title: Tilrettelegging av innovasjon i fylkeskommunenes styring av trafikksikkerhet

Awarded: NOK 7.5 mill.

Norway is a world leader in road safety (RS), and the Norwegian model for RS management is often referred to as an example to follow. In 2020 the institutional set-up around RS in Norway went, however, through major changes due to the Norwegian Regional reform. This involved the establishment of seven new, merged counties and made county authorities responsible for RS management on county roads, which make up half of Norway’s public road network. The county roads were previously administered by the NPRA. These changes alter the premises for RS management, and the increase in large road owners in Norway indicate a need for coordination and communication between the county authorities. The project aims to facilitate learning and innovation, i.e. the development of new ideas, practices, processes, procedures etc. in and between the county authorities’ RS management after the Norwegian Regional reform. We seek to help the county authorities as they innovate to adapt to both their new responsibilities and new organizational structures. We focus on two overarching key roles: 1) The county authorities’ plans for RS,and 2) The quality systems that the county authorities have developed to manage their new responsibility of RS management. The new institutional landscape in RS governance in Norway sets increasing demands for communication, cooperation, standardization and learning across different actors and institutions. The project will provide this by establishing a social and digital platform for cooperation on RS. The project aims to support the innovation processes in four county authorities through annual workshops(each preceded by measurements of county RS culture) involving collective discussions, sharing of innovations and learning and plans to improve based on these. We will validate county authorities' management practices against indicators of RS culture, innovation and accident risk, and seek to spread this way of continuous improvement to all county authorities.

Norway is a world leader in road safety (RS), and the Norwegian model for RS management if often referred to as an example to follow. In 2020 the institutional set-up around RS in Norway went through major changes following the Norwegian Regional reform which involved the establishment of seven new counties and made county authorities responsible for road safety management on half of Norway’s public road network. These changes completely alter the premises for RS management and they imply an impending risk of substantial losses of competences and deterioration of road safety. The proposed project aims to facilitate learning and innovation, i.e. the development of new ideas, practices, processes, procedures etc. within the county authorities’ RS management after the Norwegian Regional reform. We seek to help the county authorities as they innovate to adapt to their new responsibilities and organizational structures. We focus on two overarching key roles: 1) The county authorities’ plans for RS, and 2) The quality systems that the county authorities have developed to manage their new responsibility of RS management. The new fragmented institutional landscape in RS governance in Norway sets increasing demands for communication, cooperation, standardization and learning across different actors and institutions, and the present project will provide this by establishing a social and digital platform for cooperation on RS. The project aims to support the innovation processes in four county authorities through three annual workshops (each preceded by measurements of county RS culture) involving collective discussions, sharing of innovations and learning and plans to improve based on these. We will validate the county authorities' management practices against indicators of RS culture, innovation and accident risk, and seek to spread this way of continuous improvement to all county authorities.

Funding scheme:

INNOFFARENA-Innovasjonsarena for stat og kommune