Innovation Day (also known as iD) was launched in 2019 with the purpose of getting United Nations staff hyped about new ideas, mindsets, and ways of doing things.

So far, more than 80 events covering a variety of topics that spark creativity and innovation have taken place – from a virtual deep dive to a women's center in peacekeeping to psychological safety and risk-taking!

We aim to encourage people to think outside the box and to "believe we can change", as guest speaker Brian Solis said in 'Digitization vs Digital transformation'.

He also emphasized that a "culture of innovation is a workplace environment, an ethos, a shared purpose, that encourages employees to share creative ideas and solutions. Everyone is aligned around a future motivating state, understands the journey, and feels empowered to ask questions."

As Priscilla Varnagy stated in 'Design Thinking': "Innovation doesn't start with a single idea; it starts from an opportunity or a challenge. It is an iterative process with constant experimentation."

Innovation must be useful.

iD is about people getting in on the action by participating in deeper discussions and bringing together different perspectives. iD is all about shaking things up, taking risks and pushing boundaries.

iD shows that innovation is for everyone, in every role at the UN. Through iD we want people to think differently, unleash creativity, and find new ways to realize our collective goals.

This month we are not just celebrating Innovation Day’s birthday, we are also celebrating four years of agile teamwork and challenging discussions that inspire colleagues and leave them with a renewed sense of purpose and excitement to bring innovation to their everyday work.

Participants not only rate iD 4.7/5 stars but often share feedback:

"iD is truly a global connector."

"I am very much inspired by the presentation."

"Mind-blowing indeed. Brilliant."

"Innovation is pivotal and crucially essential to the success of our institution."

"Thank you to the team for sharing such insightful information with us."