Ministry of Economics Receives State Chancellery Recognition for Street Trading Reorganization Concept
On Wednesday, 8 October, the Ministry of Economics (MoE) received recognition from the State Chancellery (SC) at the innovation inspiration conference “Celmlauzis” for its contribution and strategic vision in implementing the initiative “Street Trading Organization – an Efficient Solution for the Modern Urban Environment.”
The challenge submitted by the Ministry of Economics to the innovation sprint focused on developing a modern street trading regulatory framework that would support everyone involved in the process while reducing barriers to market access for small entrepreneurs and local producers. The team applied design thinking methods, focusing on users and their experiences, which were explored through in-depth interviews.
The Cabinet of Ministers regulations governing street trading, adopted 15 years ago, have become outdated, overly complex, and burdened with numerous and diverse requirements. As a result, home producers as well as small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, for whom these regulations were originally designed, are no longer able to comply with them.
“At this stage, we have developed a concept for regulatory amendments as a prototype to improve the existing framework. Traditionally, regulation authors tend to present ready-made amendments, but design thinking requires us to critically examine the entire situation, repeatedly and iteratively assess what the real problem is, be honest, and explore what the end user has to say. Is the problem that we are driving on a narrow road, or that we are driving at all?
Taking this into account, developing a solution becomes more ‘painful,’ but the result is of higher quality because all stakeholders are meaningfully involved. That is why the innovation sprint created significant added value. Our team now has a compass with the right coordinates for improving the regulation,”
said Marina Blašķe, Director of the Internal Market Department at the Ministry of Economics.
The annual innovation sprints organized by the State Chancellery Innovation Laboratory provide participants with the opportunity, under the guidance of neutral external experts, to strengthen their innovation competencies, comprehensively explore institution-specific challenges, and seek and test potential solutions in cooperation with all stakeholders involved.
“Celmlauzis” is a tradition launched by the State Chancellery in 2019, bringing together experience stories about particularly successful recent examples of change implementation across various areas of the public sector. This year, the event brought together more than 200 innovation leaders from state and local government institutions, who shared 20 experience stories demonstrating the willingness, readiness, and ability of public institutions to create new solutions, simplify processes, improve services, and thus reduce bureaucracy.
The stories highlighted a wide range of challenges and solutions already being addressed in public administration — from how to sell a pie, what to do when a ship is floating in a sea of data, how to step into a donor’s shoes to secure fresh blood, whether it is possible to register a company in 600 seconds, what to do with mortality statistics, where to find e-invoices, to how to achieve reform at the speed of light, and many more.
