Norway Offers Playbook on Public Service Design
A new open-access book, “Service Innovation and Management,” details Norway's approach to digital transformation in the public sector. The Norwegian model emphasizes systems thinking, customer journey mapping, and iterative improvement of all digital and human touchpoints. The publication offers a framework for advancing service design maturity and fostering cross-functional collaboration in complex government environments.
- A key driver of service design in Norway is StimuLab, a public sector innovation lab run by the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency and Design and Architecture Norway (DOGA). It supports projects tackling complex, cross-sectoral "wicked problems" by using a "Triple Diamond" methodology that extends conventional service design with a systemic perspective. - Norway's approach is managed through a collaborative framework led by the Ministry of Digitalisation and Public Governance and the Digitalisation Agency (Digdir), which has helped it rank 4th in the OECD's 2023 Digital Government Index. Despite this, the country faces challenges in ensuring consistent service quality across its decentralized municipalities and has seen a recent decline in user satisfaction with its national digital solutions. - An early, influential case study was the redesign of the breast cancer diagnosis journey at Oslo University Hospital in 2013, which reduced waiting times from three months to as little as five days, proving the value of service design to the government. - Like other European public bodies, Norwegian services must adhere to the Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102), which legally mandates compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA to ensure services are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. A case study of the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) shows that achieving this goes beyond technical testing, relying on cross-disciplinary teams and shared, easy-to-use design resources. - The broader European landscape features similar GovTech initiatives, such as the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS), which created the widely influential GOV.UK Design System and a set of Government Design Principles focused on starting with user needs, iterating, and designing for everyone. - The European Commission is actively promoting the use of AI to improve public services, launching the Apply AI Strategy in October 2025 to boost adoption. By 2024, over a third of EU public administrations reported using AI, with leaders in Northern and Western Europe reaching 45% adoption. - While Norway is a leader in digitalization, a notable challenge is "digital exclusion," with an estimated 600,000 individuals struggling to use online services. This highlights the ongoing need for universal design and assistive technologies to ensure equitable access for all citizens, not just strengthening the digital skills of the population. - The new open-access book, "Service Innovation and Management," is edited by Lars Witell, a Professor at the CTF – Service Research Center at Karlstad University, Sweden, and draws on the center's research. It addresses the "digitalization paradox," where organizations invest in digital tools but fail to see expected revenue growth, offering service innovation as the method to overcome this challenge.
