Thank you for this post. I agree with the attractiveness of the opportunity! Two top-of-mind potential avenues for someone to explore this would be:
1) Nation state-level political innovation: one might become an e-resident (and an active one) of Estonia, and study upfront how its public sector innovations are or aren’t working. The country is small and public leaders are accessible. So even if it’s difficult for a foreigner to work for the Estonian government, I suspect it isn’t that difficult to become a moderately influential voice on their model as a digital nomad working in Tallinn and reporting on Estonia’s innovation under their new residency program. Other states that embrace well-educated foreigners in high-leverage public sector advisory roles under the right conditions include the Gulf States: Qatar, UAE, etc.
2) Local political innovation: City Halls in wealthy cities are great sources of innovation. For example, in NYC, Mayor Bloomberg’s former aides went on to advise Mexico City and many other cities on innovations piloted in New York. Hopefully de Blasio’s aides will distill and share the advantages and drawbacks to their Meatless Monday pilot in New York’s public schools. Toronto City Hall aides would have a front-row seat to which innovations were most promising and which were most problematic in Alphabet’s shuttered plan to remake part of the city. Anne Hidalgo’s climate and COVID policies will certainly lead to lessons for other big-city mayors, for a European example.
Thanks for framing this opportunity, and I look forward to hearing which approaches people pursue to run opportunities like this down!
Thank you for this post. I agree with the attractiveness of the opportunity! Two top-of-mind potential avenues for someone to explore this would be:
1) Nation state-level political innovation: one might become an e-resident (and an active one) of Estonia, and study upfront how its public sector innovations are or aren’t working. The country is small and public leaders are accessible. So even if it’s difficult for a foreigner to work for the Estonian government, I suspect it isn’t that difficult to become a moderately influential voice on their model as a digital nomad working in Tallinn and reporting on Estonia’s innovation under their new residency program. Other states that embrace well-educated foreigners in high-leverage public sector advisory roles under the right conditions include the Gulf States: Qatar, UAE, etc.
2) Local political innovation: City Halls in wealthy cities are great sources of innovation. For example, in NYC, Mayor Bloomberg’s former aides went on to advise Mexico City and many other cities on innovations piloted in New York. Hopefully de Blasio’s aides will distill and share the advantages and drawbacks to their Meatless Monday pilot in New York’s public schools. Toronto City Hall aides would have a front-row seat to which innovations were most promising and which were most problematic in Alphabet’s shuttered plan to remake part of the city. Anne Hidalgo’s climate and COVID policies will certainly lead to lessons for other big-city mayors, for a European example.
Thanks for framing this opportunity, and I look forward to hearing which approaches people pursue to run opportunities like this down!