As private-sector technology companies continue to announce layoffs, state and local government agencies looking for workers to bolster the public-sector workforce may be able to hire some of the skilled talent.
Nineteen managers from different City departments met this year to learn the foundation of innovation Identifying stakeholders, opening up lines of communication and remembering to ask yourself the "why" behind your work. Check out the Twitter thread with takeaways from Philly Director of Innovation Eliza Pollack.
Philadelphia Uses Innovation Fund to Inspire Agencies to Take Action
To encourage city agencies to reimagine and transform their internal and public-facing services, Philadelphia, Penn., has established an accessible and flexible innovation grant process. Shutterstock
For years, the city of Philadelphia, Penn., has worked to foster innovation among government agencies to facilitate delivery of improved services. A key factor in this effort has been the Innovation Management Team (IMT), which uses the Innovation Fund (IF) to create low-barrier opportunities for city departments to test fresh ideas through pilot programs.
Since 2015, the IF has successfully funded 29 projects through five grant cycles, according to Eliza Pollack, director of innovation. What’s unique about IF projects is they re not necessarily chosen with cost savings or ROI in mind. While there are still grant reports and a support system, the IMT takes a hands-off approach with these projects on
What’s New in Civic Tech: Sweeping COVID-19 Data Platform
Plus, Philadelphia announces new pilot projects that will be supported by the city’s innovation fund, the Harvard Kennedy School releases a new step-by-step RFP guide for local governments and more! Shutterstock
Civic technologists have a new sweeping COVID-19 data platform, which can be found at global.health.
To be more specific, the project is an open-access epidemiological platform that can be used to track and predict the spread of infectious diseases, a group that, of course, includes COVID-19. Currently, the platform features a data set that includes detailed information on more than 5 million anonymized cases from more than 100 countries.