Innovation is helping to:
Improve service delivery
Simplify administrative procedures for firms and residents
Improve internal government operations
Critical success factors:
Leadership from Mayor
Culture of innovation in city
Chicago
United States
Mayor
Lori Lightfoot
Population
2,700,000 (2016)
Lead Innovation Officer
Chris Wheat
Spotlight on innovation in Chicago
In Chicago, there are various platforms available to promote innovation:
- Tech Plan has helped to build strong partnerships across sectors to drive innovation.
- Chicago Design System has been developed to embed design methods and increase interactions with users throughout the development of a new product or service.
- Chideas.org enables to elicit new ideas from outside the City.
- WindyGrid system in the municipality brings together siloed information to aid in coordination across departments and support data analysis.
Note: The City Innovation Snapshot (PDF version) was produced in 2019 and some aggregate findings have been updated with the latest survey results below.
Vision and approach to innovation capacity
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Chicago does not have an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to 24% of cities surveyed, Chicago approaches innovation capacity in specific policy areas/domains.
Policy areas that Chicago is focused on
Policy areas by number of cities
Innovation skills or roles
Chicago does not have dedicated team for innovation. The City previously managed many of their innovation projects and initiatives through the Innovation Delivery Team, funded by the Bloomberg Philanthropies and housed in the Mayor’s Office. Those duties are spread between the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Innovation and Technology, and other entities.
Innovation roles by number of cities
Terms Chicago most associates with innovation
Chicago'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
Its innovation activities also include taking risks and testing new ideas; and promoting data-driven analytics.
How is innovation funded here?
Like 19% of cities surveyed, Chicago does not have dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Top sources of funding
Chicago has no reported sources of funding.
Activities being funded
Chicago does not fund any specific activities.
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
How is innovation measured?
Chicago has developed partnerships to promote its 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, academia, think tanks to collect and analyze data, as well as with other cities.