Bloomberg announces first data certification for US cities

Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced a new effort which will publicly recognise municipal governments that most effectively use data to allocate resources and improve residents’ lives.

The What Works Cities Certification will be led by a team of national experts who will assess each city’s data practices, and then award cities with a platinum, gold or silver certification status. The certification programme will be assessed according to how they are using performance management, open data, performance-based contracting and behavioural insights to deliver better results for their residents.

“What we heard was that cities wanted a roadmap and a standard of excellence to guide them toward s...