Living Labs Global and CityMart.com are creating mechanisms for spreading innovation into cities, improving governance and radically altering the way cities deliver much-needed services. The concept promotes cities as tools for new applications of technology, creating a network of innovators and accountable decision-makers, as well as a professional networking and online market intelligence tool.

Understanding risk-averse local politics, Living Labs Global presents a city’s needs to be evaluated by an unbiased, international community, subsequently allowing governments to test free new programs on a pilot basis. Utilizing ‘Showcase’, an online platform where innovators can promote their solution in a global, tagged database, and through its award program, innovations from green housing to automation of urban services have all been channeled into implementation.

As a next phase, Sascha has launched CityMart.com, an online initiative designed to grow impact through professional networking and market intelligence. The site aims to have 500 subscribing cities and 5,000 subscribing companies (social and otherwise) as part of the network by 2013.

Problem

Currently, there is a significant lack of mobility in innovation. Implementing solutions to improve how a city functions is typically a case of re-inventing the wheel, resulting in greater cost and time expended in establishing essential urban services. LLG and CityMart provide the methodology and processes to make procurement and investment smarter for local governments.

Solution

This solution allows for greater replication of existing ideas and mitigates risk for political decision makers by assessing the merits of each innovation. This results in greater uptake of systemic solutions to a city’s problems and much quicker implementation, at lower cost. The target end-users are both city administrators and innovators, with the intention being to create a common protocol between the providers and consumers. To date, LLG have provided solutions to 50 cities from its membership of over 400 while CityMart.com has developed a catalogue of 715 ‘Showcases’ from 37 different countries. The process of piloting a programme and concluding a sale through LLG/CityMart is typically 3 times faster than standard procurement procedures and can save as much as €240,000.

Example

The joint mission of LLG and CityMart – to improve the spending impact of local governments - is carried out as follows: CityMart.com is designed as an online platform to make procurement and investment decisions smarter. It provides: - A catalogue of 500+ available solutions (“Showcases”) for major challenges in cities and society. - A social network for government employees, the technology community, and solution providers to exchange opportunities. - A system to design evaluation methodologies that can be applied to solutions against different challenges. - A group of global partner organisations such as The Climate Group and Metropolis to help develop an international open standard and best practice. LLG runs a global competition format, the “Living Labs Global Award” (http://www.llga.org/), which mobilises the technology community to respond to global technology challenges and implement pilot implementations in global cities. LLG also runs a global event format, “Summit for Service Innovation in Cities” that has now been run 15 times. It serves as a basis for matchmaking and dialogue between government and technology leaders of all sizes. LLG also provides components for training programmes on: - Service innovation in cities / society. - Management of businesses with solutions for society. - New public procurement practices. These are leveraged through partnerships with organisations like Ashoka, ALISON, Management and Training Consultancies, and other providers.

Marketplace

Currently, neither LLG nor CityMart face any direct competition, and are focused entirely on growing the online network and market for mobility.