Germany
Burkhard Jung
600,000 (2019)
Ulrich Hörning
Improve internal government operations
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Simplify administrative procedures for firms and residents
Dedicated funding
Human resource support
Culture of innovation in city
Dedicated innovation team
Leadership from Mayor
Launched in 2012, the pilot project “Leipzig Thinking Ahead” has become a coordination center for civic participation within the City Council. By bringing together a wide range of stakeholders such as residents, politicians, policymakers, and experts, the initiative aims to resolve the challenges related to sustainable urban development in the city. “Leipzig Thinking Ahead” has helped foster a culture of resident engagement through various innovative methods such as virtual spaces, a future series, surveys, and even the creative use of LEGO building blocks for co-creating a vision for the city.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Leipzig has an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to more than half of cities surveyed, Leipzig approaches innovation capacity both from a holistic/macro level, as well as in specific policy areas.
Leipzig’s innovation work is sprinkled throughout the municipal administration.
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 81% of cities surveyed, Leipzig has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Leipzig'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.
Leipzig 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 the State’s Statistical Office, the National Labor Agency and other environmental institutions to collect and analyze data.