City Innovation

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New York City

United States

Mayor

Bill de Blasio

Population

8,620,000 (2017)

Innovation Website
Lead Innovation Officer

Matthew Klein

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Innovation is helping to:

  • Improve service delivery

  • Improve resident outcomes

  • Improve internal government operations

Critical success factors:

  • Dedicated funding

  • Focus on measurement

  • Dedicated innovation team

  • Leadership from Mayor

Spotlight on innovation in New York City

New York City Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity) uses innovation to reduce poverty and increase equity. The Office advances research, data and design in the City’s program and policy development, service delivery, and budget decisions. NYC Opportunity also manages a discrete fund and works collaboratively with City agencies to design, test and oversee new programs and digital products. Recently, NYC Opportunity launched the Service Design Studio, the first municipal team dedicated to applying service design methodologies to issues facing low-income residents.

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, New York City does not have an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to 24% of cities surveyed, New York City approaches innovation capacity in specific policy areas/domains.

Policy areas that New York City is focused on

Social welfare/social services
Policing and law enforcement
Policy areas by number of cities

New York City utilizes 5 different innovation skills or roles

Project manager
Data scientist
Designer
Sociologist
Community engagement staff
Innovation roles by number of cities

New York City’s innovation work is sprinkled throughout the municipal administration.

Terms New York City most associates with innovation

Experimentation
Technological innovation

New York City's most common innovation activities

Taking risks and testing new ideas
e.g. prototyping new programs or models to address a persistent city challenge
Promoting data-driven analytics / public data management
e.g. data storage/analytics; open data; big data
Facilitating organizational change within the municipality
e.g. silo-busting; new internal performance management; staff training and capacity building on innovation tools or techniques; reforms to contracting or procurement
Human-centered design
e.g. prioritizing the end-user at each stage of the design process
Rethinking approaches to financing and partnerships
e.g. new public-private-partnerships; collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions
  1. 1

    Taking risks or testing new ideas

  2. 2

    Data-driven analytics/public data management

  3. 3

    Engaging residents in new ways

  4. 4

    Developing new solutions based on digital technologies

  5. 5

    Organizational change within the municipality

  6. 6

    Human-centered design

  7. 7

    Rethinking your city’s approach to financing partnerships

How is innovation funded here?

Like 81% of cities surveyed, New York City has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.

Top sources of funding

Municipal budget
operating budget
Municipal budget
This could include, for instance, City Council approved funds; operating budget; a special funding process (bond, Mayoral special initiative funding, etc.); and participatory budgeting / citizen-selected budgeting.
External funding
philanthropy/non-profit
External funding
This could include private, philanthropic/non-profit and/or academic/think tank resources.

Activities being funded

Launching or sustaining a project
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

New York City also invests in digital systems.

How is innovation measured?

New York City has developed partnerships to promote its innovation capacity with other public agencies, private firms, and not-for-profit organizations.

To improve data use, the city has also developed data partnerships with academia, think tanks, and private philanthropy to collect and analyze data.

Data availability by policy area

15

Sufficient data

Transport/Mobility

Economic Development

Housing and built environment

Policing and law enforcement

Health

Water

Waste and sewage

Labour market and skills

Environment and climate change

Education

Culture

Social inclusion and equity

Public works

Tourism

Digital governance