United States
Steve Callaway
103,350 (2018)
Steve Pleasant
Save costs and improve efficiency within the public sector
Improve service delivery
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Dedicated innovation team
Culture of innovation in city
Leadership from Mayor
The Hillsboro Office of Innovation compensates for its small team and limited funding resources with an annual project called the Eureka Challenge, which engages various departments through policy deep-dives and short-term innovation projects. 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. A year after one Eureka team convened to reduce the city’s water consumption, Hillsboro managed to lower its water expenses by $70,000.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Hillsboro, OR does not have an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to more than half of cities surveyed, Hillsboro, OR approaches innovation capacity both from a holistic/macro level, as well as in specific policy areas.
Digital governance: Hillsboro's innovation team developed data privacy principles, which was adopted by City Council, to inform the development of a data privacy program in the organization.
Emergency preparedness: The team also worked to evaluate the best approaches from a policy and municipal fuel reserve/fuel management perspective to deal with a potential fuel supply disruption in the event of an emergency, such as the Cascadia earthquake.
Situated in the City Manager’s office, Hillsboro’s dedicated innovation team consists of 2 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 19% of cities surveyed, Hillsboro, OR does not have dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Hillsboro, OR has no reported sources of funding.
Hillsboro, OR does not fund any specific activities.
Hillsboro has developed partnerships to promote innovation capacity with other public agencies and city residents/resident associations.
To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with local businesses to help inform their Smart City strategy, transportation policies, etc.