United Kingdom
Marvin Rees
463,400 (2019)
Freyja Lockwood
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Improve internal government operations
Improve service delivery
Dedicated funding
Focus on measurement
Dedicated innovation team
Support from outside city administration
Leadership from Mayor
Bristol’s One City Plan, launched in early 2019, sets the vision that by 2050 Bristol will be a fair, healthy, inclusive, and sustainable city that is digitally enabled with world-class infrastructure for all. The goals in Bristol’s One City Plan are decided and agreed by partners across the city and not just by the council. The goals are set out through six thematic lenses, mapped against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. A dedicated Dashboard links to data sets related to the One City Plan goals. Part of Bristol’s One City Plan involves a £10m investment fund for city initiatives, including those focused on innovation. Bristol’s City Innovation Team is supporting delivery of the One City Plan, helping to work toward achieving Bristol’s shared One City vision through the use of innovation and technology.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Bristol does not have an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to 24% of cities surveyed, Bristol approaches innovation capacity in specific policy areas/domains.
Sustainability: As the first UK city to declare a Climate Emergency, Bristol City Council is at the forefront of innovation in creating a carbon neutral and climate resilient city, with a hugely ambitious goal of achieving this by 2030. Bristol is also making positive changes to our city's food system and working towards becoming a Gold Sustainable Food City
Inclusive growth: Bristol's shared One City vision is that: In 2050 Bristol is a fair, healthy and sustainable city. Bristol City Council's Connecting Bristol smart city strategy focuses on how technology, data and innovation can play a role in making Bristol a better place for everyone. Our priority is to ensure that our digital infrastructure is fit-for-purpose and accessible by everyone, wherever they live, learn, play or work in the city. This vital foundation will benefit both citizens and businesses, enabling our region's inclusive growth prospects, increasing digital inclusion and delivering a wide range of societal benefits. New ultrafast fiber broadband options are being made available across council owned housing stock.
As part of Bristol City Council’s Growth and Regeneration Division, the in-house City Innovation Team consists of 8 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
Bristol City Council's City Innovation Team undertakes horizon scanning, convening expertise to maintain foresight and an understanding of relevant technology, good practice, potential partners, and funding sources. For example, the City Innovation Team recently led a cross-sector workshop to explore the future of logistics and new distribution technologies. The session identified relevant strategic trends, the implications for transport, infrastructure and skills, and generated insights that will inform strategic planning within the council and with external partner organizations across the region.
Like 81% of cities surveyed, Bristol has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity. Funding tends to be project specific and deliver innovation outcomes rather than directly supporting innovation capacity. For example, our flagship smart city project, REPLICATE is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program.
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Bristol'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.
Bristol has developed partnerships to promote innovation capacity with other public agencies, private firms, not-for-profit organizations, and city residents/resident associations.
To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with the private sector, private philanthropy, academia and think tanks, to collect and analyze data, as well as with other cities. The Know Your Place partnership saw seven local authorities join together to develop a digital heritage mapping application, hosted by Bristol.