United States
Sylvester Turner
2,300,000 (2016)
Jesse Bounds
Improve service delivery
Save costs and improve efficiency within the public sector
Improve internal government operations
Dedicated innovation team
Leadership from Mayor
Culture of innovation in city
Support from outside city administration
Houston has created a water innovation hub in the wake of Hurricane Harvey to test and deploy innovative solutions on drinking water, wastewater and storm water infrastructure in the city. Through an RFP for solutions, Houston has selected 10 vendors to demonstrate their products and show value. The process is managed by a non-profit water advocacy organization at no-cost to the City, although the technology may eventually be procured by the city if proven successful.
Note: The City Innovation Snapshot (PDF version) was produced in 2019 and some aggregate findings have been updated with the latest survey results below.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Houston does not have an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to 24% of cities surveyed, Houston approaches innovation capacity in specific policy areas/domains.
Situated in the Mayor’s office, Houston’s dedicated team for innovation consists of 4 staff. In addition, the Public Works Department also has an Innovation team of 3 people focused solely on that department's innovation efforts.
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
Its innovation activity also includes taking risks or testing new ideas.
Like 81% of cities surveyed, Houston has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Houston has developed partnerships to promote its innovation capacity with not-for-profit organizations.
To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with academia and think tanks to collect and analyze data.