When my editors at Policy Press asked if I was open to publishing a second edition of the book you are holding, I hesitated briefly, but then thought ‘Why not? It's about time.’ Since I wrote Leading Public Sector Innovation in late 2009 and early 2010, the idea and practice of innovation in the public sector has grown immensely, in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

Qualitatively, we have gained a much better and deeper understanding of what it takes to work systematically with innovation in public organisations. Not only have a range of governments – including those mentioned in my original preface – made significant advances in innovation practice. Some, ranging from the Australian government to Chilean public services and the Norwegian health sector, have used the book's framework directly in their innovation strategies.

A range of international organisations, such as the European Union (EU), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and leading civic organisations like Bloomberg Philanthropies and Nesta, the United Kingdom (UK) innovation foundation, have developed research, strategies and policies to advance our understanding and practice of innovation work for public purpose. Additionally, careful academic research has been carried out, addressing themes like innovation management in government or the rise of social and public innovation labs.

Quantitatively, many more actors have joined the field, ranging from cities and local government administrations to national and international bodies, and the past decade has seen a vast expansion in the adoption of approaches to create more innovative services and policies. This has in turn contributed a wider array of empirical cases and evidence to study – constituting a mostly positive and reinforcing cycle of change.

So, this second edition of Leading Public Sector Innovation necessarily entails a bit of stock taking. While respecting its foundation, the text has been updated with additional cases, examples, data and two all-new chapters on innovation labs and design leadership. The new edition also reflects my own growing experience in working with innovation in government. After writing the first edition I worked another four years leading the Danish government's innovation team, MindLab, before accepting the role of CEO of the Danish Design Centre, a publicly funded institution committed to advancing the value of design for business and society.