Innovation and Data Use in Cities
A Road to Increased Well-being
This report is a first-of-its-kind work to provide evidence on how cities’ investments
in innovation and data use can pay off in powerful ways for residents. It offers analysis
on the different ways local governments build capacity at the strategic and technical
level, from organisational structure and strategy, to resource allocation and outcome
evaluation. It shows that cities with higher public-sector innovation capacity and
data use practices have higher levels of city and life satisfaction. Furthermore,
when looking across key well-being dimensions from housing to environment, health
and walkability, cities with higher innovation capacity and data use practices outperformed
cities with lower capacity. The lessons in the report have been distilled into 10
recommendations to help local leaders boost their data use and innovation capacity
to improve resident well-being.
Available from December 21, 2021