The city of Edinburgh is one of 19 new local authorities which will join the international Bloomberg Philanthropies i-team initiative, a scheme which provides support and expertise to tackle pressing local challenges.
The council has announced it will establish an Innovation Team which will work towards tackling the city’s ambitions of reaching net zero and ending poverty.
The ‘i-team’, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, will include three specialised staff responsible for helping the Council and their civic and community-based partners design and implement services that improve people’s lives.
The team will receive technical assistance from regional and global specialists, and benefit from learnings from peers in local authorities across the region and around the world.
James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, said: “Realising efficient, effective government is an inside job—and the Innovation Teams we support around the world are critical to building that engine within the city halls they serve. We are glad to expand this model to 19 new municipal teams in Europe, who will join the growing number of public officials working locally, creatively, and ambitiously to break down silos, break through problems, and deliver results residents see and feel.”
The Council Leader, Jane Meagher, said that population growth makes for challenges in living in the capital and said she is sure that the i-team will “provide a huge boost towards our aims of tackling poverty and hitting net zero, by helping us to establish a brand-new innovation team within the Council”.
To date, the Bloomberg Philanthropies i-team initiative has reached over 100 cities across 16 countries and four continents—representing more than 100 million residents—and inspired hundreds of other local governments to embrace innovation systems and practices.
