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In the context of the progressive rolling out of the Statute of Autonomy ofCatalonia of 2006, with the uncertainties characteristic of the process andthe context in which it is taking place, debate is emerging regarding theeffective administrative capacity of the Autonomous Communities’ jurisdictions,including that of the very professionals who make up the administrationof the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. Regarding this field,the following issue arises: the extent to which the existing potential for innovativelyand differently managing these personnel has been used, takinginto account political will as well as factors derived from the inertia characteristicof public organizations, administrative elites, or the very institutionalframeworks that regulate the functioning of the field.With the aim of contributing evidence and arguments to this debate, the articleposes some questions about the structure and development of publicservice in the Autonomous Communities, highlighting some factors from theso-called neo-institutionalist perspectives that contribute to explaining thepath followed and the results achieved. With regard to the future, some areasfor innovation are introduced and arguments put forward regardinghow to integrate them into the system that is currently in force and, in accordancewith neo-institutionalist approaches, their effective potential for transformingthe system.