Philadelphia accelerator to close innovation gap

Philadelphia has announced a new innovation accelerator to further support its existing programmes and to improve the continuity of refining new ideas and solutions.

The Idea Accelerator will work alongside the city’s Innovation Fund, the Academy for Municipal Innovation, and Innovation Consulting.

Andrew Buss (pictured), Deputy Chief Information Officer at the City of Philadelphia, told Cities Today that the accelerator improves the connection between the academy and fund.

“Ideally, we would take people through the academy and surface a good problem statement and be in a position to potentially implement or pilot it through the Innovation Fund,” he said. “The Idea Accelerator concept offers a formal opportunity to create continuity between the academy cohort in the Fall and the fund cycle in the Spring.”

Early focus areas will be department-specific topics but will also have a collaborative aspect so that diverse perspectives can be included in the problem definition and solution.

Although project teams for the first cohort, in January 2025, have not yet been selected, Buss anticipates the ideas that come out of the accelerator will have a direct impact on city residents and services.

“We decided to focus the Idea Accelerator on resident-facing projects because most of our regular Innovation Fund projects are internal to the city and involve process improvement or perhaps technology enhancements,” he said. “We wanted to make this particular funding opportunity as public-focused as possible, and this plan fits in well with the mayor’s vision for a more accessible government.”

Two to four projects are planned to be paid for annually through the accelerator, at a higher level of funding than the Innovation Fund with the hope that the programme finds sustainable financing. Verizon has provided initial monies and will serve as an adviser to the work.

Buss added that the accelerator is a culmination of decades worth of work exemplifying the maturation of innovation in municipal government.

“We developed several early initiatives to establish a nascent ecosystem of innovation, and now we are better able to connect these initiatives for implementation,” he said. “It’s also clear that innovation has gradually expanded from its beginnings in the technology office and now fits in well with the work of the Chief Administrative Office and its service delivery improvement efforts.”

Image: City of Philadelphia