Tuesday 29 January 2013

Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation (MOCI)

San Francisco calls itself ‘the Innovation Capital of the World”.  “Its’ part of our DNA” they say and I am beginning to understand why.
City Hall
Office and staff titles at the SFO Council have the “innovation” label embedded and no one blinks an eyelid.  Its’ not an abstract, scary, or over abused word because the City defines innovation simply as “finding new ways to solve old problems”. 

Mayor's Office
Speaking with the ‘Deputy Chief Innovation Officer to SFO’, Shannon Spanhake, the word continuously and easily rolls off Shannon’s tongue as she explains the exciting and innovative programmes the office designs and implements.  

The Mayor's Innovation Office (MOCI) has three strategic focus areas: economic development, citizen engagement, and government efficiency. It has been operating for a one year and has two rules – 1.  Everything is done through partnerships and with citizen engagement and 2.  ‘Platform play’ they only pick problems to solve that have a platform on which they can invest and build on.  Over such a short time and with only 2 staff, a number of extremely successful projects have taken hold in the city and continue to grow exponentially. Check out crowd sourcing examples,ImproveSF and OpenCoSF http://innovatesf.com/improvesf/SF to name a couple.
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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous29 January 2013 at 18:21

    Hi Soph
    Keep up the great work - love the innovate SF idea. just been looking at the bike path suggestions and they all seem real options to increase the use of bikes. The key question though is how do we measure the community benefit against any costs of implementing these ideas? Would love for you to ask the team about that

    Dave
    Group Manager Innovative Strategic Planning

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  2. Anonymous29 January 2013 at 21:51

    Hi Soph

    Great to hear about the innovation team at SF. Interesting to know how they tactically approached organisational barriers such as unwilling staff or the silo effect.

    Look forward to your next post.

    Cheers
    Dave Bell

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    Replies
    1. .31 January 2013 at 08:06

      Yes good question Dave, that is my next question when I get the opportunity to meet again. Last night I was told they do have such barriers, so I'll be drilling down further soon. I'll keep you posted.

      Wait for my blog about Facebook - MAN that is an interesting place, esp for the staff (NO silo's there)- but I have to rush off to the conference now.

      Soph

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  3. .29 January 2013 at 22:04

    Hi Dave,
    Good to hear from you. I will ask Shannon that question for you. Also I'll post a photo of my biking escapades, the bike path was inside the parked cars - very safe and many happy bikers. Also, did you see the bike rack hoist in the IDEO post?
    cheers
    Soph

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  4. Anonymous29 January 2013 at 23:51

    Hi Sophie

    Looks like you have uncovered some fab innovations. Would like to know more about how Office and staff titles at the SFO Council have the “innovation” label embedded?

    Cheers

    Melanie Gurney

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    Replies
    1. .2 February 2013 at 17:18

      Hi Melanie, I shall find out more and drill into their change management strategies.
      Thanks for the comments
      cheers
      Soph

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  5. .2 February 2013 at 22:55

    Titles can embed innovation if they are ambiguous. By creating roles and role titles that are ambiguous by design they can help reinforce problem solving and flexibility. A lack of structure inherently results in creative opportunities.

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