Citizen-Driven Innovation

Read this guidebook, which explores smart cities through a lens that promotes citizens as the driving force of urban innovation. It presents different models of smart cities that show how citizen-centric methods can mobilize resources to respond innovatively to challenges in governance. The living lab approach encourages agile development and the rapid prototyping of ideas in a decentralized and user-centric manner. How can mayors and public administrators create partnerships that drive value in their communities through citizen-driven innovation? How can sustainability be integrated into municipal strategies and solutions? How can city leaders join forces to learn and network globally?

Ensuring Sustainability Chapter 4

3. Ensure Financial and Policy Support

Perhaps one of the most obvious aspects of sustainability is getting political support and funding for your projects and initiatives. You may think that as the Mayor that's the easy part, since in theory you yourself are one of the key decision-makers in this regard. Although that is in many respects true, there is the danger of falling back into the traditional way of doing things, with the city government 'buying' and owning policy initiatives rather than orchestrating a broad, citizen-driven partnership with shared ownership of objectives, processes, and results. We do suggest setting aside a small and flexible fund for organizing events or otherwise 'seeding' projects and partnerships, but unless significant infrastructure projects are involved, we advise against the traditional approach of predefined calls for tender for specific initiatives until they clearly result from a co-design process.

Box 30

Innovating Policy Instruments

The Apulia Region in Italy has experimented with the promotion of Living Labs through a multi-stage funding program. First a catalog of innovation needs in the area was developed, followed by a catalog of innovation partners. Only then was a call opened for Living Lab initiatives that addressed one or more needs in the catalog through co-design methods.

Citizen-driven innovation projects should ideally draw on a range of funding sources, of which city funding can play a part though it should not dominate the partnership's governance. A good principle here is 'alignment' or building a project's objectives in coherence with other on-going initiatives such as a university research project, a citizen initiative, a new business service, or even a city-funded regeneration plan. Where that is insufficient, innovative ways for the public sector to fund innovation – ranging from Hackathon prizes to Pre-commercial Procurement – can be explored for specific projects. For the private sector, an increasing number of crowd-funding platforms are also available, although they tend to focus more on business cases than public services. In any event, it is a good idea to consider different kinds of contributions – money, volunteer work, equipment, and facilities, etc. – with equal respect. This kind of multi-sourced arrangement is often referred to as a PPPP: Public Private People Partnership.

Case Story

SME Innovation Services in Flanders

Description	Context	Challenges
iMinds-iLab.o is a networked sen/ice provided to SMEs throughout the Flanders Region in Belgium, supporting the development of innovative products and services using Living Lab methodologies and tools. iLab.o's on-line platform provides a Living Lab toolbox with the following modules: Panel b Community Management (for selected lead users), Living Lab User Research Toolkit, Prototyping, and Testing Support, and 360° Business Model Innovation. Finally, iLab.o helps local SMEs establish network relationships with other Living Labs through direct links with ENoLL.	iMinds is a research organization connecting five universities across the Flanders Region as a platform for demand-driven applied research. including pre-seeding and incubating new businesses. The iLab.o initiative was born of a mixture between an early interest in the Living Lab approach and a specific case, iCity, that exemplified the need for the services offered. The Flemish government decided in 2009 to incorporate iCity with one of the iMinds universities to create iLab.o, as a merge between the operational services of a Living Lab and the academic know-how in business research. The governance structure of iMinds-iLab.o is thus as a non-profit organization with framework agreements with each of the five universities.	One of the biggest challenges for cities and regions aiming to promote the economic competitiveness of their territories is to balance the need to take a neutral stance in the public interest with that of promoting successful SMEs, which inevitably involves selecting some actors over others. Especially in the case of Smart City products and services, the city itself is a potential client thus raising issues of possible conflicts of interest. The iMinds-iLab.o service takes that burden off the cities' back, maintaining the appropriate balance by engaging cities in co-design processes while ensuring the development of sustainable businesses.

Actions	Results	Impacts	Scaling Up
iMinds-iLab.o acts as an open incubator for the regional SME innovation ecosystem. While its main activities are structured according to the methodology of the Living Lab toolbox, an important feature is the reciprocal contamination between the concrete business development needs of the SMEs and the broader research activities on Living Lab methodologies.	There are 200 researchers directly on the iMinds payroll, 18 of whom specifically dedicated to iLab.o. The 20 million Euros annual regional funding to iMinds is complemented by participation in national and EU projects, to a total of € 47Mln in 2013. The iLab.o service was launched in 2009, and the number of SME projects supported reached 20 by 2013.	As iMinds acts in the public interest, its projects need to offer a value proposition to both the community and the SMEs, while keeping the Living Lab dimension alive. A comprehensive evaluation methodology is an integral part of iMinds-iLab.o activities, focusing on the innovation trajectories of the companies using the service.	Scaling up of the iMinds-iLab.o service model occurs at two levels: the institutional level of the service and the individual SMEs participating. At the institutional level, discussions are currently underway with the Haag-Helia University, with six campuses throughout Finland also coordinating a Finnish network of Living Labs. Both settings thus share similar vocations and territorial configurations. At the SME level, iMinds promotes the development of cross-border Living Lab ecosystems by working to harmonize the operational aspects of the Living Lab methodology across geographical and cultural differences.

Financial institutions, venture capital funds, and similar bodies can also be considered as partners in your local innovation alliance. In a short-term view, they may wish to participate in innovation processes as a way of identifying emergent ideas or business prospects for early stage financial support. In a broader perspective, it is in their long-term interest to support the innovation capacity of the territory where they operate, since economic vitality in general contributes to the soundness of their investments and operations. Finally, initiatives with a strong civic or social innovation element can be considered as part of a Corporate Social Responsibility policy (CSR). Financial institutions tend to require clear objectives, timeframes, and indicators of returns on investments, so this approach makes a sound and broad-reaching evaluation strategy all the more important.

Sustainability is however not only a question of finding money, and project funding is not the only way the public sector can support innovation. Many local authorities are looking at ways to provide support to innovators such as information sharing and matchmaking services or even funds to support patent protection. An equally important approach is to provide public spaces – often in restored public buildings – where innovators can meet, interact, and work, with access to the necessary services and equipment. These can range from business incubators to the newer models for creativity and innovation such as Co-Working spaces or FabLabs. There is also an important role for regulatory policies, whose impact can be strongly inhibiting as much as a potentially powerful enabler; while many important regulations are beyond the remit of city governments, creatively working with the rules at the city level can also lead to important results. In the end, sustainability essentially means the survival of your innovation partnership, and for that to happen each stakeholder needs to continue to find a good reason for playing their role in citizen-driven innovation.

Checklist for Ensuring Sustainability

Have you...

Made sure that each stakeholder agrees that the selected indicators reflect their goals and objectives?
Identified moments in your plan in which to reflect on process and review the next steps?
Kept an eye on the continued engagement of all participants as you discuss legal structures?
Published on your website a presentation of the different ways stakeholders contribute resources?
Explored how under-used municipal properties can house innovation activities?