This Tuesday, Bogotá Mayor, Claudia López met with James Anderson, the Head of Government Innovation Programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies, as part of a visit planned by the foundation.
This visit seeks two objectives: The first is to formalize the innovation team or i-team support, which will strengthen public innovation and will be fundamental for Bogota's digital transformation and its consolidation as a Smart Territory; The second is to learn first-hand about the Bogota's Care System's 'Door-to-Door Care', which is participating in the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge.
I-team (Innovation Team) in Bogota
Bogota was chosen to promote its innovation agenda through technical and financial assistance that was formalized today. These resources seek to modernize existing innovation services, build new digital services, improve capacity to create digital products and promote digital inclusion.
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"We have proposed to the Bloomberg team four innovation challenges, if we bring together talent and technology, we will produce innovative solutions. That Bogota has a history of the social services it offers to each family, in particular, to each woman caregiver or mother head of household. A second challenge is to help us think about how to solve the "gota a gota" alternative, whereby informal credits are given to families at excessive interest rates. The third challenge is to integrate the information of public services in a single cadastre to better plan the works of the city. And a fourth challenge is to provide a solution to better plan bicycle trips," said the Mayor of Bogotá.
With the foundation’s support, Bogota will implement a plan for digital public innovation, incorporate world-class experts, advance specialized training and create a task force for digital transformation. The city will hire programmers, experts in cybersecurity, data analytics, behavioral economics, design thinking and user experience design, among others.
Bogota, along with San Francisco (United States), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Mexico City (Mexico), Reykjavik (Iceland) and Washington, D.C. (United States), were selected to form their own i-team, due to their commitment to creating more inclusive, smart and innovative cities.
James Anderson, Head of Government Innovation Programs at Bloomberg Foundation said, "Bogota is a great partner for us, a partner that uses imagination and cares about the well-being of the inhabitants. We chose Bogota because it is an example of innovation and can showcase it to other cities around the world.
'Door-to-Door Care services' of Bogota's Care System in the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge
In June 2021, Bogota was selected as one of 50 finalists in the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge, a worldwide innovation competition that encourages and spreads the cities' most promising ideas. These 50 urban innovations rose to the top of a competitive pool of 631 cities from 99 countries.
As a finalist, Bogotá moved on to the Champion Phase of the challenge; and over four weeks, since the beginning of October 2021, it implemented the ‘Door-to-Door’ Care Pilot Program, which is part of the Bogota's Care System. For this reason, the Bloomberg Philanthropies team, represented by James Anderson, will make an on-site visit to see first-hand the work of the caregivers, the people they serve and to verify the progress of the project.
The 15 winners of the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge will be announced early next year.
