Innovation is helping to:
Improve service delivery
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Improve resident outcomes
Critical success factors:
Dedicated funding
Culture of innovation in city
Support from outside city administration
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Mayor
Femke Halsema
Population
862,965 (2019)
Innovation Website
Lead Innovation Officer
Ger Baron
Spotlight on innovation in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is one of six pilot cities for Mobility Urban Values (MUV), a project funded by the European Commission. The project seeks to induce behavioral changes through a mobile game where users earn points for making sustainable mobility choices. These points can be redeemed for a cup of coffee or similar rewards from the network of local businesses advertised on the MUV platform. The mobility and environmental data collected from the platform are made readily available as open data, contributing to the development of new services and helping inform urban policies in Amsterdam.
Vision and approach to innovation capacity
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Amsterdam has an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to 20% of cities surveyed, Amsterdam approaches innovation capacity from a holistic/macro level.
Policy areas that Amsterdam is focused on
Amsterdam does not prioritise policy sectors for its innovation work.
Policy areas by number of cities
Amsterdam utilizes 6 different innovation skills or roles
Innovation roles by number of cities
As an independent department, Amsterdam’s dedicated innovation team consists of 80 staff, divided into 10 sub-teams.
Terms Amsterdam most associates with innovation
Amsterdam's most common innovation activities
- 1
Taking risks or testing new ideas
- 2
Data-driven analytics/public data management
- 3
Engaging residents in new ways
- 4
Developing new solutions based on digital technologies
- 5
Organizational change within the municipality
- 6
Human-centered design
- 7
Rethinking your city’s approach to financing partnerships
How is innovation funded here?
Like 81% of cities surveyed, Amsterdam has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Top sources of funding
Activities being funded
47 cities
Launching or sustaining a project
79 cities
Idea generation & brainstorming
51 cities
Investing in digital systems
36 cities
Investing in physical infrastructure
30 cities
Paying for services
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Amsterdam'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.
How is innovation measured?
Amsterdam has developed partnerships to promote innovation capacity with other public agencies, private firms, not-for-profit organisations, and city residents/resident associations.
To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with the private sector, academia and think tanks to collect and analyse data.