Community Innovation Programs

🚀 Now publicly available 🚀 The Data Innovation Toolkit! And Repository! (✍️ coauthored with Maria Claudia Bodino, Nathan da Silva Carvalho, Marcelo Cogo, and Arianna Dafne Fini Storchi, and commissioned by the Digital Innovation Lab (iLab) of DG DIGIT at the European Commission) 👉 Despite the growing awareness about the value of data to address societal issues, the excitement around AI, and the potential for transformative insights, many organizations struggle to translate data into actionable strategies and meaningful innovations. 🔹 How can those working in the public interest better leverage data for the public good? 🔹 What practical resources can help navigate data innovation challenges? To bridge these gaps, we developed a practical and easy-to-use toolkit designed to support decision makers and public leaders managing data-driven initiatives. 🛠️ What’s inside the first version of the Digital Innovation Toolkit (105 pages)? 👉A repository of educational materials and best practices from the public sector, academia, NGOs, and think tanks. 👉 Practical resources to enhance data innovation efforts, including: ✅Checklists to ensure key aspects of data initiatives are properly assessed. ✅Interactive exercises to engage teams and build essential data skills. ✅Canvas models for structured planning and brainstorming. ✅Workshop templates to facilitate collaboration, ideation, and problem-solving. 🔍 How was the toolkit developed? 📚 Repository: Curated literature review and a user-friendly interface for easy access. 🎤 Interviews & Workshops: Direct engagement with public sector professionals to refine relevance. 🚀 Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Iterative development of an initial set of tools. 🧪 Usability Tests & Pilots: Ensuring functionality and user-friendliness. This is just the beginning! We’re excited to continue refining and expanding this toolkit to support data innovation across public administrations. 🔗 Check it out and let us know your thoughts: 💻 Data Innovation Toolkit: https://lnkd.in/e68kqmZn 💻 Data Innovation Repository: https://lnkd.in/eU-vZqdC #DataInnovation #PublicSector #DigitalTransformation #OpenData #AIforGood #GovTech #DataForPublicGood

A short time-lapse shows a polluted urban canal being transformed into clean, paved, solar-lit infrastructure. What do you think about this work? Beyond the visual contrast, it highlights a deeper challenge in city renovation: not construction capability, but sustained execution. Urban renewal efforts often struggle due to limited visibility, fragmented oversight, and reactive maintenance. This is where AI can play a practical role. How AI helps build a stronger case for city renovation: • Computer vision to detect illegal dumping, blockages, and encroachments • Predictive analytics to identify infrastructure failures before they occur • Real-time tracking of contractors, timelines, and quality of work • Data-driven prioritization of projects based on impact, not politics • Continuous monitoring to ensure assets stay clean and functional Large-scale programs have shown that delivery at scale is possible. The next step is improving precision, accountability, and durability. City renovation should move from episodic cleanups to intelligent, continuously managed systems. Physical infrastructure builds cities. AI helps them stay functional and livable. Divya Gandotra, a content creator focused on social issues, uses the example to challenge the government on urban renewal with help of Ai. #AI #UrbanPlanning #SmartCities #Infrastructure #GovTech #Sustainability

Necessity fuels innovation and determination. We saw this truth in action in Parsa, a remote village in Northern India. There, families relied on costly and unreliable diesel generators. The need for a better solution drove our team to design state-of-the-art mini-grids tailored to the community’s needs. The journey wasn’t easy. Challenges arose and even with the progress, not every grid was a success. Especially early on, geography was destiny: Some villages were bad fits for the mini-grids because of their demand or their layout. But with technical expertise and strong partnerships, the team persisted—and succeeded. No longer were the traditional government grid model or a string of diesel generators the only ways to power a village. The mini-grid’s power was competitively priced, eventually around $0.25 per kilowatt hour, and much more reliable than the state grid and far cheaper than diesel. Walking through Parsa, I saw the transformation firsthand. Reliable, affordable energy was powering homes, businesses, and livelihoods. This is proof that bold solutions create opportunity and lasting impact.

Hello Africa, As I always say Africa will solve its own problems in an African way, not by copying systems that were designed for other continents. One big example is the centralized power grid. This system was brought to Africa during colonial times to power ports, government offices, and mines. It was never designed to provide electricity to every home and village. And today, that “copy-paste” model is still failing us. Here’s why: 1. The Western system assumes people live close together In Africa, our populations are spread across wide rural areas. Pulling long transmission lines to far villages is extremely expensive sometimes up to KSh 3 million per kilometer. This makes universal grid access almost impossible. 2. The grid was built to serve towns, ports, and mining sites Not rural communities. So even after independence, many villages remained disconnected because the system was never designed to reach them in the first place. 3. The centralized grid needs stable politics and a strong economy Most African countries have faced decades of financial struggles, policy changes, and underfunded utilities. This has led to old infrastructure, frequent blackouts, and slow expansion. 4. Money alone cannot fix a broken design Foreign donors keep funding grid expansion, but the structure itself has deep problems: National utilities lose huge amounts of money Policies change often Long-distance transmission is too costly Old grids struggle to handle new renewable energy This is why, even with billions in funding, many countries still face unreliable electricity. So what is the real solution? A decentralized African model. Instead of depending on one big national grid, we build local, community-based power systems such as: Solar mini-grids Local charging hubs Battery-swapping stations Pay-as-you-go systems These solutions: Lower electricity costs Avoid long and expensive transmission lines Bring reliable power directly to the community Attract private investors Create local jobs Encourage clean transportation like e-mobility Africa does not need to wait for national grids to reach every corner. We can build our own decentralized energy systems — faster, cheaper, and more reliable. This is the future: African-made solutions for African realities. #EnergyAfrica #AfricaRising #DecentralizedEnergy #SolarMiniGrids #CleanEnergyAfrica #EnergiesForAfrica #AfricanInnovation #RuralElectrification #SustainableAfrica #GreenTransitionAfrica #EMobilityAfrica #ClimateActionAfrica #FutureOfEnergy #AfricanSolutions #JustEnergyTransition

An abbey as an energy community? In Hungary, a Benedictine order shows how it’s done. When I visited the colleagues from E.ON Hungária Csoport, they showed me around a truly remarkable location: the Pannonhalma Archabbey, founded more than a thousand years ago, one of Hungary’s most significant historical and spiritual landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here centuries-old traditions are complemented by modern renewable technologies such as a solar park and a biomass power plant. The power plant was built by E.ON with the aim to establish a larger production unit, in addition to supplying the Archabbey’s own energy community (covering 17 consumer locations such as local schools, dormitories, a brewery, a winery, etc.) – thereby moving closer to balancing their overall energy consumption and production. Since the completion of construction, the Archabbey has also installed, at its own expense, a 1 MVA / 1 MWh battery system, with commissioning currently in the administrative approval process. Operated by the Archabbey, the biomass power plant uses locally sourced wood chips and other organic materials to generate heat and electricity for the monastic community and its institutions, including schools and residential buildings. This modern facility significantly reduces reliance on fossil fuels and lowers the carbon footprint, while reflecting the Benedictine tradition of caring for creation and using resources responsibly. It is a striking example of how ancient monastic life and new energy technology can work hand in hand!

Most neighborhood revitalization strategies get one thing fundamentally wrong. They focus on buildings, incentives, and investment — and ignore the social fabric that actually makes places work. A new report by the UK"s Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods on the Strategies for Renewing Neighborhood Social Infrastructure makes this case clearly — and uncomfortably. It argues that the small, everyday places we tend to overlook — local shopping strips, cafés, laundromats, community hubs — are not just amenities. They are social infrastructure. They are where: ✅ Relationships form ✅ Trust is built ✅ Community identity takes shape And when they disappear, something deeper breaks. What struck me most is how directly the report challenges the dominant playbook. Too often, we try to fix neighborhoods by: 🔵 Attracting outside investment 🔵 Building new physical infrastructure 🔵 Launching programs aimed at “growth” But without strong social foundations, these efforts rarely produce lasting change. The report shows that the most successful neighborhood turnarounds didn’t start with capital projects. They started with: ✅ Local actors stepping up to take responsibility ✅ Deliberately shaping the mix of local businesses and spaces ✅ Building networks between residents, traders, and institutions ✅ Activating places to bring people together In other words: they rebuilt connection before chasing growth. That’s the real lesson. If we are serious about strengthening neighborhoods — in the U.S. or anywhere else — we need to rethink what we invest in. Not just: 🔵 Physical infrastructure 🔵 Economic incentives But: ✅ The places where people gather ✅ The local institutions that build trust ✅ The networks that hold communities together Because ultimately: Economic development does not create strong communities. Strong communities create the conditions for economic development. This is a report worth reading — especially if you’re working on neighborhood revitalization, economic development, or community building. (See link in comments.) It will challenge how you think about what actually drives change. #community #neighborhood #equity #inequality #health #urban Purpose Built Communities Placemaking Education Cormac Russell Frances Kraft Vanessa Elias Usha Srinivasan Jennifer Prophete Kevin Ervin Kelley, AIA Lory Warren Noah Baskett Matt Abrams Anna Scott Ethan Kent John B. Carol Naughton Sarah Strimmenos Ben Lewis Tim Tompkins Aaron Kuecker Aaron Hurst Tim Soerens Sam Pressler Tracy Hadden Loh David Erickson Shawn Duncan Mollie Johnson Katie Delp Carola Signori Andrew O'Brien Madeleine Jennings Ross Mudie Ben Glover Kirk Wester-Rivera Lorenzo A. Watson David Edwards Tim Tompkins Jonathan Haidt Alexa Arnold Pronoy Sarkar

Delivering Abundance from the Ground Up Abundance, the remarkable book co-authored by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, is rightfully a blockbuster sensation. The central thesis of the book — that it is time for the nation to build again and embrace abundance over scarcity — is timely and compelling. In our latest newsletter, Michael Saadine. Colin Higgins and I lay out the reality that delivering abundance, during a period of federal scale back and volatility, has been, ipso facto, delegated to state and local governments and their private and civic allies. We pose three challenges for public, private and civic leaders to tackle. First, what kind of public institutions are needed to deliver Abundance? Our view, along with close colleagues like Joshua Humphries, is that many public agencies and authorities have more power and access to capital than they think. Unlocking those hidden assets will be critical. Second, how will innovative practices be diffused and scaled across our federal republic? The U.S. never lacks for first movers — one city or county or state innovating on housing production or transportation expansion or energy modernization. But to move an innovation meaningfully from 1 place to 50 or 100 or 1000 places needs to be sorted. Here is where routinization, dissemination and differentiation (across different kinds of innovations) must be perfected. Finally, what kind of multi-sectoral collaboration needs to be created and amplified? From the founding of the Republic, problem solving in the U.S. has always been driven by networks of public, private and civic institutions and leaders (what we call New Localism) rather than the public sector alone. Unleashing the full energies and expertise of the nation must be brought to bear. Localizing the delivery of Abundance, particularly given the fragmentation of municipalities and states, will not be simple. But it is the path to getting things done in this nation. https://lnkd.in/ea-Bxvqe

From stadium to city garden. Circular innovation in Taipei. In Taipei, an abandoned sports stadium (baseball in the 1980s, later football; closed in 2008) was not demolished, but repurposed as a community garden. What they did: - 80-100 small plots, managed by local residents - Smart use of potted plants & soil boxes - Green paths with climbing aids - Programmes for seasonal plants, workshops for local residents. Why this works (circular & urban) - Repurposing ↓ material and demolition impact - Local production & skills↑ - Involvement in the living environment ↑ - Micro-farming as an entry point to a 'garden city' instead of more concrete - Soil is contained in portable boxes and pots which ensures soil health is manageable at a small scale - Smart use of what is already there: creating value without new construction. Urban renewal is not always about building more. Sometimes it is a matter of looking differently at what is already there.

Pilot projects are everywhere but scale is elusive. After 9 years at Hubbub, I've been thinking about why the Community Fridge Network flourished. Community fridges are places where people come together to share food, and prevent it going to waste. We've spent a decade building the Community Fridge Network in the UK. It now shares over 25 million meals' worth of surplus food a year. Some of the explanation is the stuff you'd expect: good systems, good tech, flexible funders. But I also think there are some less obvious factors which could be handy for others. 1. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 🥷 They all share an approach, but no two fridges are the same. The YMCA in Milton Keynes pictured below, for example, just has a fridge-freezer in the foyer. It gets rapidly filled and emptied every day, and it's made a huge difference to residents who can access healthy food, day or night. Others, like Sustainable Merton, are sophisticated logistics operations serving hundreds of people. This flexibility has helped the idea spread, and for the fridges to grow with the skills and ambitions of the communities they serve. 2. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀 🦸 Behind every community success story is usually an incredibly energetic, big-hearted, selfless problem-solver extraordinaire. To make things really work, you've got to find them. Pictured below next to me is our one in MK, Helen Innes. Hel would hate to take all the credit but there's no way the city would have 11 community fridges - and all the other food activity on top - without her. And there are 'Helens' all over the country who ought to be celebrated and given the support they need (tho obv ours is #1) 💚 Even though scaling is run from the centre, the real action is happening out on the ground. 3. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 🧱 A pattern we've seen again and again: a community group sets up a fridge, and then a couple of years later wants to do more - growing veg, shared meals, a Library of Things. Not only does this massively boost impact but it builds resilience into the network because activity's not just dependent on the fridge. The community fridge isn't designed to scale as a standalone scheme: it gets embedded into other work and becomes part of the social fabric. When I think about the projects I've worked on that haven't managed to scale, none of them have had the flexibility or been such a perfect canvas for local community champions. What's next for the Community Fridge Network? It's not more scale. It's more depth. More layers: food and climate activity built on a foundation of sharing. I won't still be at Hubbub but I'll be cheering it on. 🙌 ++ I'm CEO of environmental charity Hubbub. We make sustainability second nature. 🪴 If you work in sustainability, climate action or responsible business, follow me - Alex Robinson

When the grid failed, these Amazon communities built their own power 💡 Near Brazil’s Belo Monte dam, one of the world’s largest hydropower projects, the promise of abundant electricity has proved uneven. A household survey of 500 families in Altamira found that 86.8% experienced higher electricity costs after the plant began operating in 2016. Many riverside residents still endure outages, pay steep tariffs, or rely on diesel generators. As Emilio Moran, a social anthropologist at Michigan State University, observed, “People are right under the transmission line, but the energy doesn’t come from that hydroelectric plant.” For some communities deeper in the Amazon, waiting for grid expansion has yielded little. In the Tapajós-Arapiuns Reserve near Santarém, researchers and residents have instead built small, independent energy networks, reports Jorge C. Carrasco. Launched in 2023, the pilot combines solar panels with hydrokinetic turbines placed in river currents. The aim, said project coordinator Lázaro Santos, is straightforward: “that we bring energy to contribute to improving the quality of life of these communities.” The hybrid design addresses the limits of each technology. Solar output varies with daylight, while river turbines generate power continuously. For villages long dependent on diesel, the shift has been tangible. One resident recalled that fuel deliveries required multi-day boat trips, and electricity was rationed to a few evening hours. Today, a communal freezer runs around the clock, enabling food storage and modest commerce. Internet access and emergency communications have also improved. Crucially, the project trained local technicians to operate and repair the equipment. Three residents in one village can now maintain the system themselves. This emphasis on autonomy reflects a broader lesson: infrastructure need not arrive fully formed from outside to be effective. Several practical insights emerge: ⚡ Small, modular systems can deliver reliable power where large grids are slow or costly to extend. ⚡ Combining energy sources reduces vulnerability to weather or seasonal change. ⚡ Local training builds resilience and lowers long-term operating costs. ⚡ Shared assets, such as community freezers, can spread benefits even when generation is modest. The initiative currently serves about 200 people, with plans to expand. It does not resolve the wider inequities associated with large dams. Yet it suggests that communities facing resource constraints are not without options. With technical support and local organization, incremental solutions can materially improve daily life while larger debates over energy policy continue. 📰 https://lnkd.in/gU_XcVNB