Former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg presided over the virtual event ‘How to Transform Your Government In a Digital Age,’ attended by Mayor Claudia López. Within the scope of this meeting, the founder of the philanthropic organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, announced that Bogotá is one of the six finalist cities chosen to receive financial and technical support over the course of the following three years. This will provide a massive boost to their innovation teams or ‘i-teams’.
💡@Bogota will receive support from @BloombergDotOrg to consolidate a public innovation team and boost digital transformation projects. #BogotáTerritorioInteligentepic.twitter.com/YCISyAf8Dr
— Relaciones Internacionales Bogotá (@BogotaInter_nal) June 29, 2021
This recognition comes after a rigorous six-month selection process that fundamentally raises the ceiling by fortifying the capacity for public innovation, allowing the use of data for decision-making and accelerating digital transformation processes that confront the issues facing the city in new ground-breaking ways.
Faced with this achievement, the Mayor of Bogotá stated, "Being one of the i-teams for Bloomberg Philanthropies will be fundamental for the digital transformation of our capital city and its consolidation as a Smart Territory. Bogotá is radically changing the way it relates to its citizens and responds to their needs. We are determined to innovate to move towards a collaborative, agile and transparent government model that improves people's quality of life and helps us accelerate economic recovery."
Bogotá enters an elite of innovative cities. On this occasion, the cities that stood alongside Bogotá are: San Francisco (United States), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Mexico City (Mexico), Reykjavik (Iceland) and Washington (United States). These six cities were selected based on the criteria of digital endeavours, the challenges they currently face, and the ambition of each mayor to create more inclusive and innovative cities.
Innovation teams (i-teams) help cities address pressing challenges with creative solutions. Today, we’re announcing that our i-teams program is expanding to six new cities, through grants focused on bolstering digital solutions to enhance public services: https://t.co/8hqkygNqvlpic.twitter.com/6RSzWWIvSj
— Bloomberg Philanthropies (@BloombergDotOrg) June 29, 2021
About the alliance with Bloomberg Philanthropies
This announcement is accompanied by a boost of resources in the form of $ 1.5 million dollars, over the course of the following three years, specialised insight on training and a global-network with the most innovative cities in the world. With this incentive, Bogotá will boost the horse-power of the city's innovation team, comprised of the Bogotá Public Innovation Laboratory (iBO) and Ágata, the District's Data Analytics Agency.
These resources will also allow the Colombian capital to bring new programmers into the fold for the development of digital prototypes. This will be an opportunity for experts in cyber security, data analytics, digital transformation, design thinking, user experience and behavioural sciences to step up and present their ideas. With the formation of these teams, the following projects, will be enhanced and fast-tracked:
- The integration of services in the District Care System, facilitating a more fluid and comprehensive care of the most vulnerable demographics.
- A platform of public service, which will allow a more efficient provision of public services for its citizens.
- The Transportation Management Center, which will seek to make transportation more efficient and ultimately impact the mobility and reduce the time of commute.
- Technology for mobility by bike, which will provide up-to-date information to more than 600 cyclists who commute by bicycle every day.
- The Analytical Center for Citizen Security, will enable a comprehensive oversight of security from the collection and analysis of data. With the intent of preventing crime, increasing the police response-time and generating wide-ranging solutions to city security problems.
Bloomberg Philanthropies i-teams have helped leaders around the world drive new ideas, change local government culture, and tackle big issues ranging from revitalising neighbourhoods to reducing gun violence.
According to Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and former Mayor of New York, “These six cities are already raising the bar for innovation in the public sector. This investment will help supercharge their work to bring city services into the digital future, deliver better results for residents, and share lessons with other cities around the world."
