CTM 5: Agile Stability & The Entrepreneurial State with Rainer Kattel

“Agile stability in the context of the entrepreneurial state” explores the role of the state in innovation and the economy.

UCL Professor & IIPP Deputy Director Rainer Kattel, explains why innovation needs bureaucracy, and why the initial nimbleness and speed required to innovate needs a certain structure that provides stability for scaling innovations. 

Kattel introduces the idea of “agile stability” – governments need stability for long-term functions but also agility to respond to new challenges. He provides examples like digital agencies that start small and experimental but later become institutionalized. Kattel argues we need to consciously design public organizations for innovation. He emphasizes that both capabilities and capacities matter – skills and leadership, but also infrastructure and resources. The discussion covers how to build these capabilities, the role of missions in focusing innovation efforts with specific examples.

Overall, the podcast makes the case that realizing the promise of an “entrepreneurial state” relies on building dynamic and learning-oriented public organizations.

Some other resources for you to learn more about How to Make an Entrepreneurial State: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29aosKq90mA

For more on Mission-Oriented Innovation & UCL IIPP's work

• https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2019/dec/missions-beginners-guide
• https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/research/mission-oriented-innovation

For links to previous episodes mentioned:

• CTM3: Creative Bureaucracy with Charles Landry 
• CTM1: Expansive Thinking with Christian Bason

How to buy the book:

• https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300227277/how-to-make-an-entrepreneurial-state/