State & Local Government Innovation Program
This 6 month issue-focused program powered by CivStart, e.republic, and ELGL works closely with both government participants and startup solutions to meet top challenges through affordable and innovative solutions through wraparound support — providing everyone peace of mind and ensuring success.
SEEKING: Innovation-focused government leaders
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State or Local Government: A state, city, county, or special district leader.
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Heads of Department or Top Staff: Executive Office staff, City & County Manager offices, Transportation Department leaders, etc. The point of contact for the program can be staff working for one of these positions.
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No Technical Knowledge Required: You just need a commitment to engaging with innovative government technology solutions.
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Challenge Focus: Preliminary idea of some transit & mobility challenges faced by the local government.
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Pilot Project: Willingness to consider a pilot project or fuller procurement with a startup to address these challenges.
Governments seeking help on challenges that fall outside this cohort's focus areas, or seeking longer-term support should consider our CIE program or reach out to us directly.
Our Program
Join us in Spring 2022 as we start a free, six-month guided program for local government leaders to find affordable and innovative solutions to their top Transportation & Mobility challenges!
Our program helps government leaders go from challenge to solution in 6 months time. This program includes three months of understanding your challenges and 3-months of pilot program selection, while providing innovative government leaders with capacity, education, and support to engage with an innovative process for meeting your top technology challenges. Over the course of this six-month cohort, participants will:
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Learn about innovation, challenge-based procurement, and the latest in cutting-edge technology;
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Understand your technology challenges in a detailed manner through facilitated listening sessions;
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Engage with other local government peers to see how they are handling similar challenges;
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Pilot an affordable and innovative solution to one or more of the challenges identified; and
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Deploy new ways to procure innovative solutions. By the end of the program, a government staff will be able to apply this method to other problems facing their communities.
This program is free to local government leaders.
We came to the CivStart team with several challenges and we wouldn't have found such affordable and innovative solutions to those challenges without them.
Brandon Johnson, Vice Mayor of Wichita
Step 1:
Innovation Education
Educate and support government leaders and selected startup solutions on working together for maximum impact
Step 2:
Listening Sessions
Identify core challenges within internal government processes and/or facing your local communities
Step 3:
Solution Research & Vetting
Get expert help to find and vet potential innovative, cost-effective startups solutions to meet those challenges
Step 4:
Pilot Program MAnagement
Begin to address those challenges immediately with project management support for free or low-cost pilot programs as low-risk proof-of-concepts toward fuller-scale procurement.
Cohort Dates
This cohort will take place over six months, with weekly, hour-long, coworking sessions for the first 16 weeks (4 months) of the program. In addition, there will be bi-weekly, hour-long, educational webinars during these 16 weeks. The final two months will be focused on ad-hoc expert and peer support for beginning your pilot programs. The entire program will run from April 2022 to September 2022.
*Coworking sessions will be held on Fridays at 2pm ET. Educational session times will all be at: 12:00am PT / 1:00pm MT / 2:00pm CT / 3:00pm ET every other Wednesday.
Local Government participants can expect to dedicate an average of 1-2 hours a week to the program for the first 3 months. Time requirements for the second 3 months will vary considerably depending on the scope of the pilot program.
All local government participants will be expected to attend an SLGI Demo Day, scheduled in weeks 11 or 12 around local gov availability.
*CivStart’s experts will be available for additional one-on-one support for local government leaders as needed.
Program Outline
Phase 1: Listening Sessions & Education
Week 1 & 2: Program Welcome & Challenge-based Procurement
Education Session: The What, Why, and How of Challenge-based Procurement with Nick Lyell, CivStart
In the first session of the program, government leaders will meet their fellow cohort members and review the program details, outcomes, and goals. In addition, we will learn about challenge-based procurement and its advantages for finding innovative technology.
Week 3 & 4: Listening to Your Challenges
Education Session: Transportation & Mobility GovTech Overview with Dustin Haisler, e.republic
During weeks two and four, you will work one-on-one with the program experts, set up in-person listening sessions, send short challenge surveys to key decision-makers and staff while the program experts review your strategic documents and current technology usage. Together, we will start to identify a range of Transportation & Mobility Challenges.
Week 5 & 6: Narrowing Down the Options
Cohort Session: Your Challenges so Far
In weeks five and six, cohort members will start by sharing their progress so far with each other and sharing and learning from others’ experiences gathering information across departments. You will continue to work one-on-one with the program experts to narrow down your challenges, find gaps in knowledge, bring in other key stakeholders, and add detail to your challenges.
Week 7 & 8: Public Challenge Statement
Education Session: Challenges and Pilots for More Inclusive Procurement
Congratulations! In the final two weeks of Phase 1, local government leaders will use the information gained in the previous six weeks along with templates provided by the program experts to publicly share one or more challenge statements.
At the end of these two weeks, local government leaders will have revised and finalized their challenge statement(s) and shared it publicly through local government channels or utilizing platforms provided by the program experts.
Phase 2: Startup Vetting & Support
Week 9 & 10: Startup Vetting & Recruitment
Two-Week Break: Local government leaders get a two-week break while the program experts recruit and vet startups to respond to local government challenges.
Week 11 & 12: Startup Demos
Education Session: The Startup Perspective: Procurement & Pilot Programs
During these two weeks, you will host a Demo Day oriented around your specific challenge(s) and ask and respond to questions from the startups providing the potential solutions to your challenges. These demos can be used to revise the challenge statement if needed.
Phase 3: Pilot Project
Week 13 & 14: Pilot Selection
Education Session: Setting up a Successful Pilot Program
After the Demos and receiving answers to questions between startups and local governments, government leaders will identify their selected startups to participate in their pilot program(s).
Week 15 & 16: Pilot Outline, Outcomes, & Goals
Education Session: From Pilot to Procurement to Possibility
Together with the program experts and the selected startup, you will utilize resources and templates to set up a ~3-month pilot program outline that identifies clear goals, timeline, and outcomes for a successful pilot, as well as clear intentions for partnership following a successful pilot.
Week 15 & 24+: Pilot Project Execution
Cohort Session: Sharing Innovations
A key part of the program is learning together with other local government leaders. In this final cohort session of the program, you will share your pilot program choices and the lessons learned through your participation in the program, as well as any remaining questions you may have about continuing to use the innovation practices you learned in the program.
Optional Post-Program: Pilot Program Evaluation & Case Study
Following the completion of the pilot program, program experts work with the local government leaders and the selected startup to draft and publish a case study to highlight the city’s innovative approach to their challenges, their successes, and their lessons learned from the program.
The timeline for the post-program will depend on the length of the selected pilot and participation in this part of the program is optional.
The State & Local Government Innovation program is run in conjunction with our partners at ELGL & Government Technology Magazine.
Our Other Innovation Programs
The SLGI program isn't the only way cities can access the many benefits of CivStart's innovation programming. Other programs offer different and unique benefits for government leaders and their communities.
Case Studies in Innovation
Learn about the many cities that have approached meeting their challenges with the innovation, affordability, and opportunity provided by govtech startups.