|
- Click sponsor logos for whitepapers, case studies, and best practices.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Digital Communities
Industry Members
Will the Chief Innovation Officer Transform Government?
January 31, 2013 By David Raths
Move over, chief information officers. There is a new CIO in town. From Riverside, Calif., to Kansas City, Mo., and from Louisville, Ky., to Massachusetts, states and municipalities are hiring chief innovation officers.
Yet while several municipalities and states are creating these positions, the job description, scope of work and relationship to tech projects vary widely. Some job descriptions sound like economic development agency executives, charged with promoting job growth and luring businesses to the community. Other municipalities, like San Francisco, place a strong emphasis on transparency and open data initiatives. Philadelphia’s chief innovation officer position encompasses the chief information officer role, internal business process transformation and startup tech business support.
Jayson White, who works at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School, has helped several cities create innovation positions. When the concept first started taking hold in 2008, the focus was on education reform and sustainability, he said. But once the recession hit, that focus changed to how to deal with budget cutting, economic development and job creation. “They didn’t want to just manage decline but start an upward spiral,” said White, project manager of the Urban Policy Advisory Group, which leads a dialog among chiefs of staff and senior policy advisers to mayors in the 35 largest cities across the country.
One trend cities and states are targeting is better ways to use technology. “You see cities creating these ‘free safety’ positions,” White said, using a football metaphor. “They can work on alternative ways to do procurement or broker deals across agencies or push for greater use of social media.”
A Growing ListChief innovation officers are becoming more common in public agencies. Here is a partial list of innovation-related positions in state and local government.
|
View Full Story
In Our Library
- Mobile Capture - taking the first step
- Download this whitepaper and learn how to reduce costs and improve the value of services to compete effectively. This insightful use case demonstrates the benefits of providing branch employees, field representatives and customers with the ability to capture application forms and supporting documents with a mobile phone or tablet, and immediately have them validated and fed directly into the back office process.
- Hurricane Preparedness
- Make sure you are prepared for hurricane season before it is here. Join in this Digital Communities teleconference and gain insight on how to prepare from experts who have been on the ground during major hurricanes.
- Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work Out
- This paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption. View All
Subscribe to Digital Communities
Digital Communities (DC) is e.Republic‘s local government program. The particular strength of DC is its focus on encouraging collaboration and creating productive relationships between and among cities, counties, regions and select private sector companies uniquely positioned to help improve the delivery of public services.
Subscribe | View Digital Issue
Government Best Practices
Featured White Papers & Reports
Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work OutThis Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.
View Full Library
Events
Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.
Thank you for your article. Colorado also has a state Chief Innovation Office, Ajay Menon, who sits on the Governor's cabinet. Dr. Menon is the Dean of the Businesses School at Colorado State University, but dedicates part of his week towards innovation strategy and the oversize of the Colorado Innovation Network. The goal of the Colorado Innovation Network is to raise the innovative profile of Colorado and commit to meaningful change through collaboration of our innovation ecosystem stakeholders - higher education, government, research labs, industry and entrepreneurs. It was great to learn about other similar but different roles across the nation.
Hi: My name is Joe Deklinski and I am the Chief Innovation Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I am responsible for managing the statewide innovation and cost savings initiative implemented by Governor Tom Corbett. I read this article with interest, but noted I am not on yur list. I would welcome the chance to chat about what we are doing here in PA and to hopefully get on the list! My direct number is 717.787.6303.