United States
William Peduto
301,048 (2018)
Santiago Garces
Improve internal government operations
Simplify administrative procedures for firms and residents
Improve service delivery
Dedicated funding
Focus on measurement
Human resource support
Dedicated innovation team
Culture of innovation in city
Engagement with partners
Support from outside city administration
Leadership from Mayor
Pittsburgh adopted its first innovation strategy in 2015, and has since updated it annually. While innovation was initially heavily funded by local philanthropies, the city is continuously trying to move toward sustainable funding by building innovation costs into the city operating budget. Much of the innovation strategy overhaul is based on “customer feedback”, with the goal of making data-driven decisions and ensuring that technology creates value for residents.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Pittsburgh, PA has an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to more than half of cities surveyed, Pittsburgh, PA approaches innovation capacity both from a holistic/macro level, as well as in specific policy areas.
Transport/Mobility: Pittsburgh is developing a novel model by requiring providers of new mobility solutions such as e-scooters to develop neighborhood-level transportation plans in a way that relates to the current assets and needs. The city has also deployed a network of over 50 smart traffic lights that coordinate traffic to reduce congestion and improve environmental benefits.
As an independent department, Pittsburgh’s dedicated innovation team consists of 8 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 81% of cities surveyed, Pittsburgh, PA has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Pittsburgh'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.
Pittsburgh has developed partnerships to promote 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, private philanthropy, academia and think tanks, to collect and analyze data, as well as with other cities.