Phoenix Office of Innovation

The City of Phoenix established the Office of Innovation in late 2021 with the appointment of Michael Hammett as the City’s first Chief Innovation Officer. The Office of Innovation is the central hub for innovation, performance management, and the strategic use of data and performance across the City. The Office identifies national and local grant and technical-support opportunities to address City priorities, and partners with residents and departments to co-create pilot initiatives to reimagine existing City processes and services and implement new ideas to solve the City’s challenges. The Office leads the City Manager’s Performance Dashboard, Valley Benchmark Communities, the Innovate PHX Challenge hackathon series at Venture Café Phoenix, and the Bloomberg Philanthropies, What Works Cities and Smart Cities initiatives. ​The City of Phoenix established the Office of Innovation in late 2021 with the appointment of Michael Hammett as the City’s first Chief Innovation Officer. The Office of Innovation is the central hub for innovation, performance management, and the strategic use of data and performance across the City. The Office identifies national and local grant and technical-support opportunities to address City priorities, and partners with residents and departments to co-create pilot initiatives to reimagine existing City processes and services and implement new ideas to solve the City’s challenges. The Office leads the City Manager’s Performance Dashboard, Valley Benchmark Communities, the Innovate PHX Challenge hackathon series at Venture Café Phoenix, and the Bloomberg Philanthropies, What Works Cities and Smart Cities initiatives. Our Mission To partner with residents, City departments, industry experts, community organizations, and universities to develop and implement solutions to the City’s top challenges. Our Vision To lead with data, evidence and community collaboration to continue Phoenix’s transformation into an innovative, data-driven, Smart City. The Office of Innovation partners with residents, City departments, and local and national organizations to advance solutions to some of our City's most pressing challenges — championing the strategic use of data to deliver effective, efficient, and measurable impacts for the City and its communities. ​​​ The Office of Innovation collaborates with Venture Café Phoenix to organize biannual Innovate PHX Challenge hackathons where participants from diverse backgrounds work in teams to address top City priorities. The teams then pitch their innovative solutions to a panel of judges for a chance to win a cash prize and potentially partner with the City to prototype ideas.​​​ Phoenix has achieved Platinum-level What Works Cities certification, the national standard of excellence in data-driven city governance. Launched in 2017 by Bloomberg Philanthropies and led by Results for America, What Works Cities Certification recognizes and celebrates local governments for their exceptional use of data to inform policy decisions, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate the effectiveness of programs, and engage residents. To date, 62 cities in North, Central and South America have achieved certification. Improving Phoenix with Data and Evidence ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Office of Innovation leads efforts to advance the strategic use of data Citywide, administering the What Works Cities and Valley Benchmark Cities initiatives, and manages and advances the City Manager's Performance Dashboard, among other projects.