Although Wikinomics was mostly about business, Don and I have always felt that the wikinomics era holds the promise and the inevitability of new models for delivering the functions of government. Our conversations with public sector leaders over the past few months have really reinforced this view. Just as new waves of innovation are washing over the private sector, the imperative to harness new models of collaboration and innovation is arriving at the doorstep of governments everywhere.

Now, on behalf of New Paradigm, I’m pleased to announce that we are using the lens of Wikinomics to launch a global investigation into the future of government and democracy. The investigation will identify and analyze emerging opportunities to harness new models of collaboration to transform public sector organizations — from government agencies and political parties to health care providers and educational organizations around the world.

Our overarching goal is to equip participating organizations with the insights required to harness new models of Web-based collaboration to reinvent the way they develop policy, partner across institutional boundaries, and engage and serve their constituents. Among other things, the research program will help public sector organizations:

• Renovate the tired rules that inhibit innovation with new models of Web-enabled collaboration that cut across departmental silos to improve policy outcomes, reduce costs, and increase public value
• Achieve breakthroughs in public service delivery and organizational effectiveness by deploying emerging Web 2.0 technologies
• Understand what today’s global youth really expect of government and how they will behave as citizens and consumers of public services
• Differentiate employee recruitment programs to appeal to the incoming wave of Net Generation workers
• Reinvigorate democratic processes with technology-enabled approaches to policy-making, problem solving, citizen engagement and stakeholder consultation
• Solve enduring policy challenges with collaborative approaches to issues such as climate change, education, health care, and national security

In spirit of experimenting with new models of democracy we’ve just launched a new public wiki where we’re inviting the wikinomics community to help us do the research! Please take some time to visit and contribute. Registered users can:

• Learn about the program and contribute new ideas to our list of research topics
• Post your suggestions for case study candidates and other resources
• Help the community author a Government 2.0 Manifesto: the things governments should be doing now to harness mass collaboration and the web 2.0 to increase the efficiency of public services and reinvigorate democrac
• Ask the community questions and start discussions on the Gov 2.0 blog.

We hope you get a chance to check it out!