Who drives innovation in San Francisco government?
Innovation exists in every Department in the City and County of San Francisco. Up and down the org chart — from the most entry level team members up through the directors’ chairs — innovative ideas and programs are generated everyday. And quite frankly, most innovations come from the bottom of the org chart, not the top.
So where does the Mayor’s Office of Innovation stand in all this?
First and foremost, we want to help unlock the innovations that haven’t yet emerged from our Departments. This isn’t formal work, but it’s a constant focus for us — how can we help empower
More formally, the Mayor’s Office of Innovation plays a key role in the innovation infrastructure of San Francisco alongside the Department of Technology and Digital Services.
This trifecta can be simplified (oversimplified?) as follows:
- Dept. of Technology = new technologies
DT ushers in new, enterprise-scale technologies to the City. Think Snowflake for data sharing or Microsoft Co-Pilot for GenAI office assistance. - Digital Services = new ways to use technology
DS transforms how residents interact with City services by designing innovative digital workflows for the people who need and use them. Think moving common governments forms and applications online, or making sf.gov more accessible and easy to use, or the City’s Open Data portal supported by DataSF. - Mayor’s Office of Innovation = new solutions to old problems
We tackle cross-departmental projects that no one else has been able to solve, and provides support to departments and programs looking to tackle their own new projects (some digital, some not).
These three departments coordinate on a constant basis — including on the City’s efforts to explore how to responsibly and effective integrate Artificial Intelligence into City operations (you can learn about some early guidelines here).
We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but if you’re interested in…
- Human-centered design
- Research and data analysis
- Collaboration and co-creation
- Iteration and prototyping
…then come see us.
