139. Driving Urban Innovation in Cities Around the World

Solutions to many of the greatest challenges we face depend on the progress of cities.

Local leaders are uniquely positioned to bring about real change that has tangible impact for residents, but often, they don’t have the resources to do so. How can we support city governments in bridging this gap, so they have the capabilities they need to move communities forward?

The Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies focuses on providing mayors and local government officials with the tools and support they need to tackle the pressing problems they face and improve people’s lives.

On this episode, James Anderson, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation program, joins Nneka Sobers, the Assistant Director of Product Development at the Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech, to discuss how Bloomberg Philanthropies works with city halls around the world to strengthen their problem-solving capacity and increase their use of data, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration by providing leadership training, programs, and an infrastructure that allows for urban ideas to spread across cities worldwide.

This audio is adapted from their recent conversation at the Urban Tech Summit hosted at Cornell Tech, where academics, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and industry and public sector leaders gathered to discuss how cities can drive decarbonization around the world.