Australia
Sandy Vershoor
1,350,000 (2018)
Dave Gerner
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Save costs and improve efficiency within the public sector
Provide analytics to manage climate change
Dedicated funding
Focus on measurement
Dedicated innovation team
Leadership from Mayor
In 2018-2019, the city of Adelaide undertook a restructuring that aimed to change how the city conducts its business and innovates for better outcomes. Adelaide recently implemented an Internet of Things network that uses remote sensors to monitor air quality, temperature variations caused by the urban heat effect, water use, and biodiversity resilience. The city is also about to finish a 4-year economic development project to equip 1,000 buildings with a 10 gigabyte fiber optic network, providing a high-performance digital infrastructure that will facilitate business transformation.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Adelaide has an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to more than half of cities surveyed, Adelaide approaches innovation capacity both from a holistic/macro level, as well as in specific policy areas.
Environment/climate change: Adelaide recently sets up an Internet of Things network to connect remote sensors for monitoring air quality, temperature variations caused by the urban heat effect, water use and biodiversity resilience. Adelaide is working with alternative materials in road construction that absorb heat more effectively and reduce heat reflection into the atmosphere. The city has installed water-saving devices and utilized smart meters to understand the nuances of water usage throughout the season.
Economic development: Adelaide is about to finish a 4-year project to connect 1,000 buildings across the city with a 10 gigabit fiber optic network, providing one of the highest performing pieces of digital infrastructure in the world. City businesses are utilizing this infrastructure to enable digital business transformation. The City is developing policy and data governance structures to provide start-ups with access to the city infrastructure for developing innovative solutions for smart city problems.
As an independent department, Adelaide’s dedicated innovation team consists of 4 staff.
Taking risks or testing new ideas
Data-driven analytics/public data management
Engaging residents in new ways
Developing new solutions based on digital technologies
Organizational change within the municipality
Human-centered design
Rethinking your city’s approach to financing partnerships
Like 81% of cities surveyed, Adelaide has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Adelaide’s funding for innovation capacity is also directed towards training staff and building capacity*.
*"Training staff and building capacity" is not an option in the 2018 survey, while "Launching or sustaining a project" is not an option in the 2020 survey.
Adelaide has developed partnerships to promote innovation capacity with other public agencies, private firms, not-for-profit organizations, and city residents/resident associations. Adelaide also brings innovation experts from around the world to participate in the city’s thought leadership programs to develop its internal capability.
To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with the private sector, academia and think tanks, to collect and analyze data, as well as with other cities.