EMBRACING LOCAL IMPACT How Cities Can Use Innovation and Data to Increase Well-Being
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Life is better in cities with high public sector innovation and data use
1
Key findings from the research
2
Recommendations for boosting well-being through innovation and data use in cities
META-CAPACITIES 1. Gather innovation from an array of city stakeholders: leadership, staff and residents
4
2. Nurture a culture of innovation throughout the city, so it becomes second nature
6
COMPONENTS 3. Create a formal, publicly shared innovation strategy with measurable goals
8
4. Plug innovation staff into the larger administration for maximum impact
10
5. Focus on stable, long-term funding to protect against short-term shifts
12
6. Leverage data use for decision-making and evaluating outcomes
14
TOOLS 7. Establish a data strategy that defines roles, goals, and expectations
16
8. Cultivate the capacity for coherent implementation of data strategies
18
9. Establish a well-defined legal and regulatory data framework
20
10. Meet high data-management standards during daily operations
22
A layered approach to the recommendations
24
What comes next
25
LIFE IS BETTER IN CITIES WITH HIGH PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATION AND DATA USE From pollution monitors that reroute traffic, to vacant property turned into community spaces, to local cashback programmes that support small business, more and more city governments use innovative and data-driven approaches to improve the lives of residents. But what separates innovative cities from the rest? What factors enable their exciting uses of public space, deployment of new technology, reduced emissions, support for the vulnerable, improved safety, and reactivity to crises like COVID-19? To what extent do such endeavours measurably improve the lives of their residents? And, most importantly, do residents notice?
Defining public sector innovation In line with the 2018 Oslo Manual, this study defines innovation – including public sector innovation – as “a new or improved product or process that differs significantly from previous products or processes and that has been made available to potential users”. While cities can use this definition as a basic framework, how they may define or envision public sector innovation may differ depending on local context. Source: OECD/Eurostat (2018), Oslo Manual 2018: Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation, 4th Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris/Eurostat, Luxembourg.
This is the first study to correlate and measure cities’ innovation and data use with well-being outcomes for their residents. This document summarises the potential impacts that local innovation and data use can have on residents’ lives, and outlines ten recommendations for how cities can build such capacities. Until the 2017 OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies Innovation Capacity in City Government project, there was no systematic research into the innovation capacity of cities, nor the ability to link innovation inputs with outcomes.
Cities with high public sector innovation (PSI) capacity and data use perform better Differences in index points (indexes can take values from 0 to 100)
Outcomes in high data-use cities relative to low data-use cities Outcomes in high PSI capacity cities relative to low PSI capacity cities
15 10 5 0 -5 -10 Safety
Environment
Housing
Jobs
Health
Community Civic (City engagement satisfaction)
Income
Life Accessibility Education satisfaction (Walkability)
Note: PSI capacity and data use indexes comprise different city samples and should not be compared to each other. The PSI index ranges from 0 to 10. Cities are classified as high PSI if they scored between 6 and 10. The data use index ranges from 0 to 38. Cities are classified as high data use if they scored between 23 and 38. Source: OECD (2021), Innovation and Data Use in Cities: A road to increased well-being, OECD Publishing, Paris.
1
KEY FINDINGS FROM THE RESEARCH
To understand local public sector innovation, the OECD and Bloomberg Philanthropies approached 147 cities around the world to examine how they generate the capacity to innovate and use data, and how that affects the lives of residents. ities with high public sector innovation lead others by about 4 percentage XC points in residents’ satisfaction with the city. This positive relationship holds true even when accounting for the city’s size and economy. XC ities with a holistic approach to innovation lead others by around 5 percentage points in residents’ satisfaction. While transport, digital governance and economic development emerged as policy areas where innovation is most applied, narrow approaches may be less effective in building a citywide culture of innovation. XC ities with a staff dedicated to innovation lead others by nearly 10 percentage points in residents’ satisfaction. When integrated across city government, innovation staff enhance cross-collaboration and increase innovation capacity more broadly. XC ities with more open data and stakeholder engagement lead others by about 4 percentage points in residents’ satisfaction. This highlights a potential virtuous cycle when cities make data available and work with potential data users to make the data serviceable.
Researching cities’ innovation and data-use connection to residents’ well-being In 2019, the OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies report, Enhancing Innovation Capacity in City Government, focused on why local public sector innovation occurs in cities, what drives it and where innovation is expected to deliver better outcomes for residents. In 2021, a follow-up report, Innovation and Data Use in Cities: A Road to Increased Well-Being, analysed the impact of cities’ innovation activity on residents’ well-being through five components: (1) strategy, goals and approaches; (2) organisational and staff structure; (3) funding; (4) data use; and (5) outcome evaluation.
Innovation and Data Use in Cities A road to increased well-being
Its findings draw on the OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies Survey on Innovation Capacity across 147 cities, primarily in the US and Europe as well as South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The results were combined with data-use assessments of 100 cities in the Results for America What Works Cities Certification programme, and dedicated data collection on outcomes for citizens was guided by the OECD’s well-being measurement framework. Cities’ innovation capacity are mapped at https://cities-innovation-oecd.com.
2
COVID-19 forced cities to innovate at a pace and in a manner unimaginable just weeks before. The COVID-19 pandemic showed city governments to be agile, adaptive, and flexible. Overnight, they embraced technology and data-driven solutions in new ways, revamped established working modes, and facilitated collaboration across silos. Experimentation, digital services, human-centred design, real-time data sharing and alternative communications became widespread.
Four categories of innovative and data-driven city responses to COVID-19 SHORT TERM Situational awareness and prevention measures: Data-driven apps, dashboards and portals to monitor the pandemic Public programmes and special public spending Real-time information to engage residents and keep them safe
LONG TERM
Co-creating solutions:
Recovery and resilience:
Hackathons and crowdsourcing
Strategic plans that rethink public space for green recovery
Forging partnerships to fill capacity gaps Inclusive social programmes: Converting hotels to short-term housing Devising platforms to support education and social engagement
Investing in digital infrastructure and digitising public service delivery Cementing temporary changes to transport, public space, targeted service delivery, data use and innovation funding
Co-ordinating volunteers Source: Author’s elaboration.
Local innovation responses to the pandemic in… FLORENCE, ITALY, committed to full digitalisation of municipal services and is mapping the provision and quality of fibre optic connections across the city to identify areas with poor connection and ensure universal access to the internet for teleworking.
LIMA, PERU, opened Casa de la Mujer (Women’s Home) shelters for female victims of domestic violence during the lockdown period, where women and minors can receive psychological, legal and social counselling, and workshops on empowerment and stress management.
3
META-CAPACITIES
1
GATHER INNOVATION FROM STAKEHOLDERS: LEADERSH
Leadership and sourcing of innovation from staff and residents are both essential to co-creation, and to empowering city staff with institutional knowledge and place-based experience.
XA ll the cities surveyed report mayoral leadership as a crucial factor for innovation: an entrepreneurial and experimental approach by the mayor can be instrumental to building a city’s innovation capacity.
XN inety percent of cities have an innovation team and report higher city satisfaction than those that do not. X I nnovation teams are less effective when isolated rather than integrated across the administrative structure, where they can bring new ideas and approaches. ffective innovation is not outsourced to external experts, but leverages the XE institutional knowledge and experience of city staff. 75% of cities report that staff want to learn how to lead co-creation methods with residents, such as innovation labs and human-centred design. X I nvolving residents in the innovation process can improve service delivery and project implementation, and increase civic engagement and satisfaction with local government.
4
women inOF clean energy AN ARRAY CITY HIP, STAFF AND RESIDENTS Residents of cities with dedicated innovation staff showed higher levels of satisfaction than those without.
How important are the following in supporting innovation in your municipality? Leadership from Mayor A strong team Dedicated funding Culture of innovation Strong focus on data Support from broader community Engagement with partners Human Resources 0%
10%
20%
Very important
30%
40%
50%
Important
60%
70%
80%
Not important
90%
100% N/A
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
Facilitating citizen engagement in… BOLOGNA, ITALY, allows citizens to create personal blogs, vote for participatory budgeting, propose projects, make collaboration pacts (agreed-upon projects between the city and residents) and access the city’s open data. The participatory budgeting dossiers support resident engagement in the decision process, with data related to the proposal presented in an accessible format.
5
META-CAPACITIES
2
NURTURE A CULTURE OF INN THE CITY, SO IT BECOMES SE
Expanding innovation skills beyond the core innovation team, and promoting experimentation and calculated risk-taking can help city employees get comfortable working innovatively.
XC ities consider weak innovation culture to be the greatest impediment to innovation, while holistic approaches to innovation correlate with higher resident satisfaction.
XA culture that supports building the five innovation components (see next section) in tandem may yield greater impact than focusing on each component in isolation. XP romoting a culture of experimentation within City Halls, creating feedback loops for project evaluation and adjustments, and motivating employees to make improvements are key to spurring public sector innovation. XA culture of innovation centred on collaboration can break down departmental silos to promote inter-agency co-production and reduce friction around programme implementation.
Which factors are lacking in your municipality’s innovation capacity? Culture of innovation Dedicated funding Strong focus on data Human resources A strong team Support from b roader community
25%
35%
40%
45% 61%
52%
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
6
women in clean energy NNOVATION THROUGHOUT ECOND NATURE By prioritising a culture of innovation across the board, cities can increase their capacity in all components simultaneously rather than addressing them in isolation.
How often does your city use each of the following innovation activities? Data analytics
Organisational change
Engaging residents
T aking risks
Developing new solutions through tech
Rethinking nancing and partnerships
Human-centred design
0%
10% Often
20%
30%
Sometimes
40%
50%
60%
70%
Familiar with/use rarely
80%
90%
100%
Never use
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
Conquering risk aversion in… HELSINGBORG, SWEDEN, made it easier for its 10 000+ municipal employees to test new ideas. Culturally and through coaching, they emphasise failure and have adopted a system where employees can make mistakes and collectively learn from them. Helsingborg even selects a “Failure of the Year”, for which employees get funding for competence training in reward for an instructive mistake. This signals to city staff that mistakes are both accepted and expected.
7
COMPONENTS
3
CREATE A FORMAL, PUBLICL STRATEGY WITH MEASURAB
Cities must define what innovation means in their local context, adopt a formalised strategy and set concrete outcome-oriented goals to evaluate throughout the innovation process.
XC lear definitions, measurable goals and a coherent strategy help cities avoid wasteful spending, increase public accountability and start the process of building an innovation culture.
XS trategies, goals and even how innovation is defined will depend on a city’s contextual needs and access to resources. XW hile focus on public sector innovation can impact residents’ lives, cities can increase the depth of that impact by adopting approaches that prioritise and engage residents. X I f cities approach innovation with a narrow focus on cost-savings, efficiency and operations, it can come at the expense of more transformative changes. XE stablishing measurable goals embedded in a formal strategy allows cities to monitor, assess and refine innovation implementation, another key innovation capacity component.
8
women in INNOVATION clean energy CLY SHARED BLE GOALS Only half of surveyed cities have a formal innovation strategy, but those that do show higher city satisfaction among residents than those with an informal approach.
Does your city have a formal innovation strategy and/or goals? Formal innovation goals?
Formal innovation strategy? 3%
49.7%
45%
50.3%
No
Yes
52%
Other
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
Taking a holistic policy approach in… LAS VEGAS (NEVADA), US, changed its agency planning and review systems with the help of What Works Cities so that agencies solidify their strategic plans before the annual budget process, rather than after, allowing them to use their business plan as a justification for budget requests. Another practice grew out of this new way of working, instead of departments meeting with the city manager individually, three to six departments meet with the city manager at a time to report on progress in city-wide thematic areas, such as homelessness or pollution. De-siloing departmental performance reviews helps city agencies’ progress toward addressing core challenges.
9
COMPONENTS
4
PLUG INNOVATION STAFF IN ADMINISTRATION FOR MAXIM
Cities can use hiring and professional development to equip themselves with the skills and experience necessary to improve residents’ well-being through innovation.
XC ities can build staff capacity for innovation by prioritising innovation skills and experience in their hiring practices and ongoing professional development.
XA mong existing staff, cities can increase the capacity for innovation through support and training, creating feedback loops that allow for evaluation and adjustments, and motivating employees to make improvements. XE fforts to infuse innovation into the fabric of public sector organisations can yield innovation sourced directly from staff, permitting them to apply their institutional knowledge in a way that improves residents’ well being. XF ocus on innovation staffing can also bring new skills and perspectives into the public sector, allowing managers to overhaul the culture of public sector organisations and transform their impact on residents’ lives.
What roles make up your city’s innovation staff? 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
Project manager
Data scientist
Community Strategic communications engagement
Designer
Note: Share of cities’ staff serving these functions on innovation teams. Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
10
Engineer
Sociologist
women in clean energy NTO THE LARGER IMUM IMPACT 90% of cities report having staff dedicated to innovation – the most common among the components measured.
Once staff capacity matures, investments focus on data and evaluation 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Programmes to advance the innovation strategy
Innovation staff expenses
Present
Data collection and analysis for policy and decision-making
Impact evaluation of innovation projects / strategy
Future
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
Developing staff innovation capacity in… HILLSBORO (OREGON), US, a city with 103 000 residents but under 800 staff, makes up for its small team and limited funding resources using “Eureka!” improvement teams and the annual Eureka Challenge. Staff from multiple city agencies take a 30-day leave from their usual posts to form a team that focuses on a specific issue identified by the City Manager. The 2019 challenge team tackled access to services and removed language or digital barriers, while another year a “Eureka!” improvement team convened to reduce the city’s water consumption and lowered Hillsboro’s water expenses by USD 70 000. This approach has the dual effect of generating an innovation staff within the city’s existing budget and training all staff to think more innovatively within their existing posts.
11
COMPONENTS
5
FOCUS ON STABLE, LONG-TER AGAINST SHORT-TERM SHIF
While innovation funding is essential, exorbitant budgets are not. Cities with strained budgets can innovate if they are realistic about what they can accomplish, explore partnerships and maintain continuity across leadership changes or staff turnover.
X I nnovation does not require expensive, high-tech purchases: many great innovations have emerged from tight budgets – and often because of tight budgets.
XP ublic sector innovation takes time to produce results and many projects fail because of disruptions in funding. A formal strategy that establishes stable funding can prevent such disruptions. XF unding for innovation need not be exorbitant, but must be consistent: a lack of sustainable funding creates a vicious cycle where there can be no innovation team to conduct evaluations that demonstrate impact and advocate for more funding. XD emonstrating impact through measuring innovation outcomes can help innovation leaders advocate for funding during budget processes. XW hen cities rely on shortcuts that fail to produce results, they undermine faith in innovation as a whole.
What are your innovation budget plans for the next 2-3 years? Increase Maintain Don't know/unclear Other
1%
9%
24%
66%
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
12
women in clean ERM FUNDING TO energy PROTECT FTS “The time frames for innovation are often not enough for our four-year election cycles… validating results is always a major struggle.” – Survey response from Curridabat, Costa Rica
XC ities can address funding shortfalls by diversifying their sources. Currently, 98% of cities fund innovation through municipal budgets. Forging strategic partnerships (e.g. with international institutions, higher levels of government and external partners) can assist in this effort. XM ost cities in the study plan to increase their innovation budgets and invest in data to evaluate innovation outcomes.
Where does/will your innovation funding originate? 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% International/ Central/ Regional/ Municipal External Innovative multilateral federal/ state/province budget (non-public) nancing funding tools institution national /territorial budget government budget budget Present
Staff Other in-kind on loan contributions
Future
*Refers to non-financial forms of resource support, including staff, space, or materials. Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
Facing funding challenges to innovation in… CORNELLÀ, SPAIN, operates CitiLab as a co-creation space and innovation lab for residents and experts with 7 000 members and 25 000 participants. The need for CitiLab was questioned and national funding cut due to a lack of metrics around outcomes of CitiLab projects despite clear engagement with residents. But CitiLab practitioners find that outcomes seem less relevant than “the process of empowering people”, increasing their sense of ability to generate change in society, which itself constitutes an improvement in residents’ well being. Source: Gascó, M. (2017), “Living labs: Implementing open innovation in the public sector”, Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 34/1, pp. 90-98, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2016.09.003.
13
COMPONENTS
6
LEVERAGE DATA USE FOR DE AND EVALUATING OUTCOMES
Data can be used to verify whether innovation improves residents’ well-being and plays a role in monitoring and evaluating innovation by allowing cities to re-allocate resources, staff and funding based on facts and figures rather than hunches or politics.
XT hree socio-economic and technological trends are increasing the role of data in public sector decision making: (1) the growing capacity for data generation and collection, (2) the power of data analytics and (3) the emergence of a paradigm shift in knowledge creation and decision making.
XW hile most cities report data plays an important role in their innovation efforts and decision making, fewer than half report using data to align their budget process with strategic priorities. XC ities have access to sufficient data but must build capacity in both innovation and data use to deploy the data they already possess.
Does your city have sufficient data in the following areas to advance innovation work? Transport / mobility Tourism
80% 70%
Government nance
Economic development Land use / zoning
60% 50%
Culture
Built environment
40% 30% Environment / climate change
Urban blight
20% 10% 0%
Social inclusion and equity
Housing and homelessness
Education
Social welfare / social services
Labour market s, jobs, skills
Policing and law enforcement
Water, public works
Waste, sanitation, sewage Health
Global
US cities
Digital governance European cities
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
14
women in clean energy ECISION-MAKING S Data can help address an array of problems including pollution, traffic, epidemics, energy efficiency, agricultural services, and public service delivery and governing costs, among many others. XE valuating innovation practices and efforts is crucial for cities to prove whether residents truly benefit and to transform successful pilot projects into permanent and sustainable programmes. XD ata can play a key role in demonstrating impacts. The three outcomes that cities measure most – public service delivery, resident engagement and efficiency of internal operations – correlate with the types of value that public sector innovation can generate for city residents. However sector-specific outcomes (e.g. environmental quality, housing, jobs) are measured at much lower rates.
Most cities have goals for innovation and strategy, but not robust evaluation tools City identi es strategic goals, and applies metrics to evaluate progress
City has standards, methods, and/or tools to evaluate innovation
28% 39% 61% 69%
No
Yes
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
Using data to assess innovation outcomes in… CURRIDABAT, COSTA RICA, put in place a tailor-made monitoring system to assess the progress of its ecosystem services. The assessment is part of Curridabat’s Sweet City vision – a new model of urban planning to bring nature and biodiversity back to the city’s centre. Further, Curridabat tries to assess citizen engagement, to understand residents’ needs and find better ways to communicate with them. The city also designed and tested a survey on perceived happiness, which serves as one of the metrics to assess residents’ well-being.
15
TOOLS
7
ESTABLISH A DATA STRATEG GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS
A systematic, flexible and well-conceived data strategy can ensure accountability and transparency, define leadership roles, set measurable objectives and outline expectations.
XP olitical leadership and long-term strategies are key to seeing data as a strategic asset to be enhanced, leveraged and shared, both across departments and with external stakeholders.
XD ata-driven governments value transparency and evidence-based decision making: they are convinced of the value derived from data analytics and use the insights to guide decisions. X I nsufficient institutional backing can result in City Halls adopting a risk-averse attitude towards data. XL eadership can provide financial and political support to overcome institutional resistance and silos between city agencies, enabling data initiatives to be scaled and sustained. XR oles to co-ordinate, synchronise and structure policy goals can build a data-driven public sector: a leader and data team can spur interest in data use across organisations. XD ata strategy responsibilities can vary, from administering data and its infrastructure, to establishing technical and organisational standards that ensure compliance with data governance frameworks. XT hough managers and staff may be convinced of the public value of data use, many are not equipped with technical literacy and use data in a restrained manner. Data literacy training can help departments evaluate the effectiveness of their performance or interventions.
16
women in clean energy GY THAT DEFINES ROLES,
Data stewardship should not fall under the exclusive purview of IT or legal departments since it demands a strategic approach across administrations.
Using data to assess innovation outcomes in… AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, has an IOS department tasked with measuring policy outcomes and producing relevant data across areas like health, safety and sustainability. Meanwhile, the Chief Technology Office assesses the achievement of their own innovation projects and initiatives. Amsterdam is currently exploring a City Innovation Index – a framework to measure innovation efforts in general throughout the city.
17
TOOLS
8
CULTIVATE THE CAPACITY FO IMPLEMENTATION OF DATA
Cities’ capacity for coherent implementation of data strategies, policies and initiatives can be cultivated through elements such as data skills and staff capabilities, data openness and stakeholder engagement.
XT he extent to which data use is undertaken depends on a municipal staff’s commitment and internal capacity, and its familiarity with and sophistication of data analysis, among other factors.
XC ities’ main challenge is to build the capacity and skills to collect, store, and analyse data at unprecedented depth and scale in addition to acquiring the infrastructure and computing power needed to store and process all the data. XH aving a specialist data team does not negate the need for data literacy among nonspecialist staff who understand how key decisions are made based on knowledge derived from data and can communicate these findings to external partners and residents.
Which factors undermine your municipality’s use of data?
Lack of technical infrastructure
Lack of staff capacity to collect data
Data are not routinely shared with other agencies
Lack of compatible data across different policy areas
0%
20% Very challenging
40% Challenging
60%
80% Not a challenge
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
18
100% N/A
women in clean energy FOR COHERENT STRATEGIES The insights from fine-grained data enable municipal government to better target infrastructure investments, deliver tailored public services and increase efficiency in operations and maintenance. XN o single toolkit or strategy exists to enhance all municipal staffs’ data analytics capacity: any activity requires a custom combination of types of data analysis, and thus varying data capabilities and skills. XM any local governments consider the time and financial commitment for data training an obstacle because they must compete with the private sector, where professionals with data analytics skills are highly sought-after. XM unicipalities with more advanced data use capabilities can provide partners (e.g. grantees, civic society, contracted vendors, etc.) with data literacy and skills training, conveying the expectation for data-driven and evidence-based governance.
Cities establish a range of partnerships to enhance their data work
78%
Private sector
Private philanthropy 30%
Academia and/or think tanks
49% 13% Other cities, countries, or government entities
No major/ substantive role
55%
Source: OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies (2018-20), Survey on Innovation Capacity in Cities.
Enhancing data competences through partnership in… EAST SUSSEX, UNITED KINGDOM, partnered with the UK Behavioural Insights Team using collision data collected over a decade to reduce dangerous road accidents. The team developed predictive models that test historically held beliefs, predict future behaviours and recommend how interventions could be better targeted. The team found that occupational drivers are not disproportionately involved in serious collisions. Most of these collisions involved local drivers or those who had previously been caught speeding.
19
TOOLS
9
ESTABLISH A WELL-DEFINED AND REGULATORY DATA FR
Cities need to consider the legal and regulatory aspects of data, from technical and organisational standards of compliance to data-related rules and guidelines that ensure openness, protection, transparency and accountability.
XL egal and regulatory frameworks help guide data management but might impede data governance if they hamper the sharing and delay the integration of data sets.
XM any local governments have guidelines and frameworks to address the security, privacy and ethical dimensions of open data, but these might inadvertently limit the flows of data and hinder local governments’ willingness to open their data. X I t is imperative that legal and regulatory frameworks facilitate data exchange, both among city agencies and levels of government: organisational siloes that preclude data sharing and compatibility can hinder the potential of data use for timely decision making. XA n effective regulatory framework that allows for a flexible data sharing agreement would embed mechanisms to strengthen co-ordination across different municipal organisations and facilitate public-private partnerships on urban data. XP roactive data-sharing agreements would prevent duplicate data being requested multiple times, relieving the administrative burden on both municipal employees and service users. XC ross-sectoral data sharing by public sector organisations would allow data to be linked, integrated and leveraged for performance analysis and decision making.
20
women in clean energy D LEGAL AMEWORK Effective urban data governance relies on co-operation among jurisdictions and levels of government. A tailored framework for data governance in the local public sector Data skills and capabilities Stakeholder engagement Data openness
Tactical layer
Strategic layer
Capacity for coherent implementation
Leadership and vision
Legal and regulatory framework
Source: Author’s adaptation from OECD (2019), The Path to Becoming a Data-Driven Public Sector, OECD Digital Government Studies, https://doi.org/10.1787/059814a7-en.
Cross-pollinating data sets to see the big picture in… BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM, through the Strategic Intelligence and Performance Team, provides evidence-based reporting on a range of high-level datasets to inform policy decisions. Examples include the Quality of Life survey that covers topics such as health, lifestyle, community, local services and public perception of living in Bristol. The final report contains 50 indicators and analysis of almost 6 000 comments about the changes residents want to see. Since June 2020, the Team also releases a new Strategic Intelligence bulletin with reports including Ward Profiles (containing datasets on population, health, education, crime and quality of life), Key Facts (major facts and infographics about life in Bristol), etc.
21
TOOLS
10
MEET HIGH DATA-MANAGE DURING DAILY OPERATION
Local governments should be fully aware of the practical implications, risks and barriers to optimal data use at each stage of the data value cycle.
XM unicipalities can use data to create feedback loops that capture emerging trends to forecast future needs and minimise or even pre-empt potential crises/problems.
XL ocal governments can use data to guide public service design and delivery in a more practical and efficient manner, and to learn from their successes and shortcomings by measuring outcomes and evolving their interventions. X I dentifying the pathway and tasks needed to transform government data into information and knowledge can help local authorities navigate and maximise the value of data at each stage. XP ublishing government data enables external stakeholders such as the private sector, concerned residents and civil society to use, re-use and generate even more social and economic value beyond its intended use by the government. XW hen combined with real- and near-time data feeds, predictive analytics provide local governments with powerful, actionable insights to undertake preventative and pre-emptive measures to deliver more effective and timely interventions.
22
women in clean energy EMENT STANDARDS NS “Single-use only” data collection can lead to duplicate data, an extra burden on service users, and increased costs to process and host data.
Streamlining data for ease of use in… MONHEIM AM RHEIN, GERMANY, lets residents access a variety of public services through a single entry of their personal information. Thus, residents are not required to provide the same data multiple times to access public services provided by different city agencies. The initiative aims to reduce administrative burdens for residents and businesses, and also minimise digital risks by building a single, secure and centralised repository of data in the city’s system.
23
A LAYERED APPROACH TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS Innovation and data use can do more than help cities cut costs or publish data dashboards. Robust capacity and deployment of innovation and data use can help cities deliver higher quality public services, target those most in need, incorporate resident feedback and make residents active partners in service delivery. Data use can help cities identify areas of low-performance, measure outcomes compared to goals, adjust programmes accordingly and plan for future crisis scenarios. The recommendations presented in these pages fit into a layered framework that begins with the overall context and enabling meta-capacities for innovation and data use, explores the interconnected building blocks that serve as components of innovation, and finally recognises the essential role and requirements of data within this structure.
Recommendations for boosting well-being through innovation and data use in cities 1. Gather innovation from an array of city stakeholders: leadership, staff and residents 2. Nurture a culture of innovation throughout the city, so it becomes second nature 3. Create a formal, publicly shared innovation strategy with measurable goals 4. Plug innovation staff into the larger administration for maximum impact
META-CAPACITIES COMPONENTS TOOLS
5. Focus on stable, long-term funding to protect against short-term shifts
24
6. Leverage data use for decision-making and evaluating outcomes 7. Establish a data strategy that de nes roles, goals and expectations 8. Cultivate the capacity for coherent implementation of data strategies 9. Establish a well-de ned legal and regulatory data framework 10. Meet high data-management standards during daily operations
WHAT COMES NEXT The role of this guide is to help local governments invest in innovation capacity in ways that produce impact for residents. What’s next and what this guide can help cities do: Create dialogue within local administrations: This guide is designed to bring together contributors to innovation and data work within city government and highlight their roles in the bigger picture of developing capacity for impact. It offers a common language that can be used as a starting point for discussion about where administrations invest and build their strategy, helping to take inventory, self-assess, set priorities and build a plan going forward.
Take stock and monitor inventory: This study outlines five primary components of innovation in local government and seven foundational practices of data use, offering the framework conditions for successful work in these areas. Naturally, the magnitudes of each capacity and practice differ as does how they are organised in each city. An important step is to reach a common understanding of the assets already in place, where there may be gaps in inventory, and where cross-pollination and redistribution may be needed.
Assess strength of capacities and practices: The ten recommendations in this document offer a way for cities to understand their path towards optimised innovation and data-use capacity, and to plan where they must reinforce areas such as culture or staff skills.
Develop an implementation agenda: Ultimately, improving innovation capacity and data use requires testing and refining the building blocks suggested in this study. Engaging in dialogues, taking stock of existing capacities and how they were built, and taking time to evaluate their health are important steps to building an implementation agenda that allows stakeholders to agree on priorities and how to invest in efforts to reach the city’s well-being goals.
25
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) consists of 38 member countries and works to build better policies for better lives. It provides a forum where governments work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The Organisation is at the forefront of efforts to help governments understand and respond to developments and concerns such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. Through the OECD, governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and international policies. About the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities The Centre helps local, regional and national governments unleash the potential of entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises, promote inclusive and sustainable cities and regions, boost local job creation, and implement sound tourism policies. www.oecd.org/cfe/ @OECD_local CFECities@oecd.org