While the main scope of Wikinomics is on the value of collaboration and engagement across traditional customer/producer/supplier/competitor lines, there is also significant applicability of the Wikinomics concept in the field of government and governance in developing, and developed economies.
Highlighted by the increasing use of public-private partnerships in infrastructure development and social service delivery, these joint projects highlight the move towards a much needed compromise between neo-liberal advocates for a minimal state and promoters of the activist, developmental state.
In essence these partnerships will act as the third level of economic ideology seen since the 1980s. This evolution has seen the focus on privatisation and unimpeded liberalisation introduced by Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s, which (depending on your perspective) can be argued to have done little to help the developing world, and which gave way to the Stiglitz-led calls for a return of the State as a regulatory body. But this more recent return of the State has yet to provide the hoped-returns of economic growth, as without a strong tax base or significant exports earnings, such governments continue to lack the funds necessary to implement foundational social services and infrastructure projects.
And therein lays the opportunity for a Wikinomics-like model of collaboration in government services. Public – private partnerships in both social service delivery and infrastructure development are becoming increasingly more popular as means of building capacity where little, if any, currently exists. The model allows governments, rarely noted for their innovative or efficient project implementation abilities, to tap into a broad network of skills, talent and financing available in the private sector. The benefits for the private sector include market access into parts of the world that have long-remained too risky given political and social uncertainties.
Evidently there are huge debates still to be had, let alone cheques to be written, especially with respect to partnerships in social service delivery in healthcare and education, but the model is a step in the right direction for economies that lack the social and physical capacity needed for economic growth.
You can check out examples of such projects at the World Bank’s Global Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure Portal.
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I would like to report on one infrastructure PPP that has all the preliminary earmarks of representing what can be done when the public and private sectors truly do team up as partners. Look no further than downtown Milwaukee and what was a deteriorating Amtrak Terminal. Wisconsin DOT, acquired the terminal around 2000 in an effort to staunch that deterioration. There was a single FTA grant of $2,000,000, beyond the purchase price, available for further development.
Wisconsin DOT developed an RFP and went to the private sector. The developer was primarily selected because it was willing to bring some of its own capital to the project. Initially that was about 1.8 million dollars. It has taken Wisconsin DOT and the developer a good amount of time to get where we are today. The project has morphed into a true transportation center. Amtrak and all intercity bus services will operate out of the facility when it opens in November 2007. As many as 1 million plus passengers are expected to pass through the new facility. Both public and private capital have increased to further develop this project. Total first phase will be around $16 million. WisDOT and the developer have also worked to relocate Wisconsin’s freeway/highway transportation information center to the facility, acquired funds and opened a railroad depot at Milwaukee’s International Airport, have worked with the City to transform the three blocks of Milwaukee’s 5th street into a pedestrian linkway between the terminal (Transportation center and downtown…Wisconsin Avenue.) The capital came from the State of Wisconsin, the developer…about 3.4 million in cash, the feds, and the City of Milwaukee. The public sector also has an interest in the revenues that flow back from the retail, transportation and office facilities that are being leased as a part of the project. Once completed in November, the developer will operate and manage the facility under a 25 year lease with three five year renewal options. Check it out.
Bottom line: money from the public and the private sectors, improved multi-modal transportation facilities for City of Milwaukee users, the public sector also shares in the income stream of the project just like partners in a private sector venture, and this multimodal facility is likely to generate increased interest in urban renewal and development because all modes of transportation and transporetation information are available at one conveneint location in the heart of Milwaukee’s downtown!
Comment by Joe - September 10, 2007 5:29 pm