Boost to York Council's Creative Ambition
A proposal by City of York Council (CYC) to transform the way it thinks and acts by deploying open innovation has received a significant boost, reaching the next stage of a NESTA-funded Creative Councils programme.
Beating off competition from 137 other councils across England and Wales, City of York Council is one of 17 councils (and only 3 in the North, along with Rotherham and Wigan) to receive £30,000 funding and expert support to challenge and develop their ideas for change, before five are selected to put them into practice. The overall objective of Creative Councils is to introduce transformational new approaches to meeting some of the biggest long-term challenges facing communities and local services, whilst delivering better value for money services. The five final projects will also be deemed to have the greatest potential for rollout and benefits for local government right across the country.
York’s shortlisted proposal focuses on four key questions
- Hidden Gems – What ways can underutilised CYC assets i.e. equipment, property, buildings, and land, be exploited to benefit businesses, the community and CYC?
- How can footfall and transport be used innovatively to generate income and improve environmental sustainability in the city?
- How can we intelligently use non-intrusive tools and methods to aid older and vulnerable people in their homes? E.g. smart assisted living, buddy systems, safety improvements, tools and ideas to reduce isolation.
- How can CYC procure work from small businesses easily, with less barriers and what ways can residents and businesses be proactive in approaching CYC with beneficial ideas and products?
SCY have partnered with the Council on the proposal and are determined it will deliver real benefits to both residents and tourists. Heather Niven, Business Manager for SCY, told us:
“This is a really exciting opportunity to create an ‘innovation ecosystem’ to support the medium to long term challenges in the city of York. The project will bring the businesses, residents and council departments together to tackle issues such as smart assisted living, procurement and sustainability in a way which encourages the co-development of cutting edge solutions using the latest technologies. The underpinning ‘open innovation process’ provides a framework to get the most out of the ideas generated and an online web platform will be launched in January to communicate the challenges and capture those ideas.”
Work has already begun on the online ‘lightbulb jam’ platform to facilitate the change, which is due for launch in mid-January, with workshops with stakeholders inside and outside of the Council following shortly after. At the heart of the proposal is a desire by City of York Council to embed a progressive, problem-solving culture within its ranks and to open-up communication avenues with local businesses and residents every step of the way. SCY will also be training an “in-house innovation team” within the Council to lead them into their new future and ensure it is an ongoing process.
If successfully chosen as one of the final five in March, the Council will receive an additional £150,000 to £250,000 and further non-financial support to see their idea become fully implimented over the next 2 years.
Speaking about the proposals received, Phillip Colligan from NESTA’s Public Services Lab, said: “The scale of the challenges facing local communities and services demands radical new approaches and we have been delighted with the response, which shows that councils have the appetite and ideas for transformational new ways of rapidly meeting changing needs.”
It’s refreshing to see the public sector look to develop and implement radical innovations as an antidote to steep budget cuts and to meet the challenges of tomorrow head on.
Stefan Lindegaard, a globally-recognised author, speaker and advisor on open innovation, told us: “Open innovation is very much about creating a mindset that enables external input to innovation or development processes. Although the public sector is warming up to this, it is a mindset we predominantly see in the private sector. It does not have to be like this and thus it is great to see how the City of York Council continues to lead by example and inspire others in their efforts to make their public sector work together with citizens and partners in a structured way. I look forward to follow this initiative and learn from their experiences.”
For more information about York’s Creative Council proposal visit the dedicated section on the SCY website.
Source: One&Other
