Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac said on Sunday it was important for the various public entities in the city to always be innovative so that the government will be able to better meet residents’ needs.
The policy secretary also said it was important to encourage public entities not to be afraid of making mistakes so that they will be more capable of launching innovative public administration practices, adding, “We will discuss the issue with other colleagues in public administration.”
Leong made the remarks during a forum at the Macau Science Centre in Nape. The forum has been organised by the Macau Development Strategy Research Centre annually since 2002 about how to facilitate Macau’s development. The theme of the one-day forum varies every year and Sunday’s focus was on facilitating innovation.
As a guest speaker, Leong said that innovation did not only happen in scientific technology and business but there was also considerable room for the public sector to be innovative.
Leong, who founded the think tank in 1997, said it was inevitable that innovation may involve making mistakes, adding that the public sector should not fear making mistakes because otherwise its capability to innovate is hindered. Leong called for a “social atmosphere” in which making mistakes is tolerated when innovating.
“When public servants launch innovative practices, they may fear failure and the possibility of making mistakes……but if we have a social atmosphere of tolerating mistakes, our colleagues in public administration will be able to integrate innovation [into their practices].”, Leong said.
(Macau News / The Macau Post Daily)
