Climate Action Network Canada: Coherence and governance challenges standing in the way of climate initiatives and what cities can do about it

On this episode, Devta Kidd, Innovation Director for Bloomington, Indiana joins me to talk about low budget, impactful innovation that any local government can try. We'll talk about cross-departmental buy-in strategies for engaging the community and what questions we should be asking as we progress through a project lifecycle to ensure innovation remains at the center.Featured government: City of Bloomington, IndianaEpisode Guests: Devta Kidd  – Innovation DirectorVisit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

The legal division is often assumed to be slow and archaic, even a barrier to innovation. In the City of Hamilton's case, this couldn't be further from the truth. The division has created model policies around some big disruptors, such as the sharing economy, that are now being replicated around the world. Featured government: City of Hamilton, CanadaEpisode Guests:Monica Ciriello  – Director Municipal Law and Licensing Visit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

Back in 2019, the city of Montréal was a successful bidder of the Canadian government Smart Cities Challenge. This allowed Montreal to kick off a multi-year multi-project effort to tackle everything from food security to mobility.Featured government:  Montréal, CanadaEpisode Guests:Aldo Rizzi, Program Director – Smart City Innovation Program chez Ville de MontréalPatrick Lozeau, Advisor in charge of data projects for Montreal in CommonVisit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

With police forces in many local governments coming under major scrutiny, we'll hear how one government is looking at risk management, crisis management, internal audit, and ultimately ways to improve resiliency to drive impactful and equitable policing.Featured government:  Paris, FranceEpisode Guest: Inès Boubaker, Risk Manager, Paris City HallVisit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

Olivia dives into what this new tech is and what roles local government practitioners can play in these emerging spaces.Episode Guests: Dani Pico, Director of Community at ForumDani is a long time start-up operator focused on the education and innovation sectors. Currently, Dani is the Director of Community at Forum Ventures, an early stage fund and accelerator program focused on B2B SaaS.Zachary HabayebReal Estate Tokenization in the UKVisit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation. 

Digital inclusion work is progressing in Detroit, and citizen-centered projects, and an understanding of their experience has been a major component of the city's success to date. Towards their goal of providing sustainable broadband access to residents via an automatic open access fiber network, Autumn and her team are finding creative ways to talk to residents and get their buy-in. Featured government: City of Detroit, MIEpisode guests: Autumn Evans, Deputy Director of Digital Inclusion/Equity and Connect 313 Operations Director for the City of Detroit, MI.Visit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

This discussion accompanies our new report: Innovation in Public Finance, which is now available at sapconcur.govlaunch.com. The guide features dozens of local government success stories and is made possible in part by SAP Concur, a company that's helping government teams around the world automate spending processes so they can run more efficiently. Govlaunch is joined by a tremendous panel, including Hughey Newsom, Chief Financial Officer at Wayne County, Michigan,  Sara Robinson, Finance Director for the City of Deer Park, Texas, and Jim McClurkin, Senior Director for Public Sector at SAP Concur. More info: Featured governments:  Wayne County, MichiganHughey Newsom, Chief Financial OfficerCity of Deer Park, TexasSara Robinson, Finance DirectorDiscussion Facilitator:SAP ConcurJim McClurkin, Senior Director for Public SectorVisit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

Siddy Holloway's work is centered around getting the public engaged in mobility through various forms of creative storytelling. With London being home to the world’s oldest underground transit network there is a lot of history and knowledge to reveal. Learn more about how London is sharing its public transit stories and how you may be able to engage with your community on the topic of mobility. Featured government: Transport for London (Transport Authority for the city of London, UK)Episode guests: Siddy Holloway, Engagement Manager at the London Transport Museum and co-presenter of UKTV's 'Secrets of the London Underground'Visit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

Govlaunch co-founder James Alfano and Michael Pegues from Aurora, Illinois discuss the importance of cultivating public-private partnerships, seeing through the smart city hype, and tips for a strong foundation upon which is smart city or connected community can be built.Featured government: City of Aurora, ILEpisode guests: Michael Pegues, Chief Information Officer at the City of AuroraVisit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.

Tanya joins the Govlaunch Podcast to share her story and to encourage other public sector leaders to think about ways that they can be cloud first, mobile first, and to incorporate omnichannel engagement and strategies for meeting the public wherever they're at 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.More info:Featured government: King County, Washington, USAEpisode guests: Tanya Hannah, Director and Chief Information OfficerVisit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.