Austria
Michael Ludwig
1,900,000 (2016)
Christian Wurm
Improve internal government operations
Anticipate and manage future challenges
Improve service delivery
Dedicated funding
Human resource support
Dedicated innovation team
Culture of innovation in city
Engagement with partners
Support from outside city administration
Leadership from Mayor
The city of Vienna’s Strategy for Economy and Innovation focuses on six issues that would help resolve the major challenges of the coming decade such as climate change, technological advancement, urban growth, and increased life expectancy. The Strategy also outlines 10 fields of strategic actions, one of which entails “Innovative Urban Administration”. Through innovations in public administration, Vienna continuously strives to develop and improve its services, tailoring them for specific target groups in order to boost local business productivity.
Along with 50% of cities surveyed, Vienna has an explicit innovation strategy. Similar to 20% of cities surveyed, Vienna approaches innovation capacity from a holistic/macro level.
Vienna does not prioritise policy sectors for its innovation work.
In the Department for Economic Affairs, Labor and Statistics, the section of Research, Technology and Innovation consists of 5 staff specifically dedicated to innovation work. However, there are also other staff members across the municipal departments working on innovation.
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, Vienna has dedicated funding to support innovation capacity.
Similar to 61% of participating cities in the 2020 survey, Vienna'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.
Vienna 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, academia and think tanks, to collect and analyze data, as well as with other cities.