Increasing innovation capacity in city governments: Do innovation labs make a difference?

ABSTRACT

Confronted with a range of complex challenges, cities and their governments are faced with increasing pressure to improve their innovation capacity. In recent efforts to do so, creating innovation labs within the city government’s organizational structure has become a popular solution. This article relies on the experience of the city of Barcelona to analyze how innovation labs contribute to increasing innovation capacity. By applying an analytical framework that includes the key elements of innovation capacity, the article shows that innovation labs promote innovation capacity within a public organization through their contributions to idea generation, knowledge management, and a human resource strategy with a clear focus on innovation. However, the study also shows that innovation labs can be too isolated from their parent organization, which limits their overall impact on innovation capacity and questions the sustainability of innovation in public organizations.

Notes

1. Ciudad de las personas in Spanish.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Krista Timeus

Krista Timeus is a Postdoctoral Researcher affiliated with ESADE Business & Law School in Barcelona, Spain. She holds an MPP and a PhD in public management from the Hertie School of Governance. Her work focuses on urban governance and on improving the innovation capacity of public sector organizations.

Mila Gascó

Mila Gascó is Research Associate Professor at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy and Associate Research Director for the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany. She holds an MBA and a PhD in public policy evaluation (Award Enric Prat de la Riba granted to the best PhD thesis on public management and administration, given by the School of Public Administration of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain).