AboutAbout<strong>Bloomberg</strong> Philanthropies<strong>Bloomberg</strong> Philanthropies’ mission is to ensurebetter, longer lives for the greatest number ofpeople. The organisation focuses on five keyareas for creat<strong>in</strong>g last<strong>in</strong>g change: Public Health,the Environment, Education, Government<strong>Innovation</strong> and the Arts. <strong>Bloomberg</strong> Philanthropiesencompasses all of Michael R. <strong>Bloomberg</strong>’scharitable activities, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g his foundationand his personal giv<strong>in</strong>g. In 2014, <strong>Bloomberg</strong>Philanthropies distributed $462 million (€409m).The Government <strong>Innovation</strong> programmepromotes public sector <strong>in</strong>novation capacity andspreads proven and promis<strong>in</strong>g solutions amongcities worldwide. Through diverse <strong>in</strong>itiatives,Government <strong>Innovation</strong> tests and ref<strong>in</strong>es urban<strong>in</strong>novations, equipp<strong>in</strong>g mayors and local leaderswith practical tools and approaches to tackle toughissues and enable civic <strong>in</strong>novation.LSE <strong>Cities</strong>LSE <strong>Cities</strong> is an <strong>in</strong>ternational centre at the LondonSchool of Economics and Political Science thatcarries out research, education and outreachactivities <strong>in</strong> London and abroad. Its missionis to study how people and cities <strong>in</strong>teract <strong>in</strong> arapidly urbanis<strong>in</strong>g world, focus<strong>in</strong>g on how thedesign of cities impacts on society, culture andthe environment. Through research, conferences,teach<strong>in</strong>g and projects, the centre aims to shape newth<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g and practice on how to make cities fairerand more susta<strong>in</strong>able for the next generation ofurban dwellers, who will make up 70% of the globalpopulation by 2050.LSE <strong>Cities</strong> is one of a small number of researchcentres that contribute to the LSE’s reputation asone of the foremost social science universities <strong>in</strong>the world. With the support of Deutsche Bank’sAlfred Herrhausen Society, the centre buildson the <strong>in</strong>terdiscipl<strong>in</strong>ary work of the Urban AgeProgramme, an <strong>in</strong>ternational <strong>in</strong>vestigation ofcities around the world that s<strong>in</strong>ce 2005 has studiedthe social and spatial dynamics of metropolitanareas such as Istanbul, São Paulo, Mumbai,Johannesburg, New York City and London.46
The <strong>Mayors</strong> ChallengeAfter an <strong>in</strong>augural competition <strong>in</strong> the United States<strong>in</strong> 2012, <strong>Bloomberg</strong> Philanthropies replicated the<strong>Mayors</strong> Challenge <strong>in</strong> Europe <strong>in</strong> 2013-2014. Thepotential for a third round is be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>vestigated,but the location has yet to be confirmed. Thecompetition is designed to strengthen localgovernance <strong>in</strong>novation. <strong>Bloomberg</strong> Philanthropiessees <strong>in</strong>novation to tackle the press<strong>in</strong>g social andeconomic issues at a city-level as strategic. The<strong>in</strong>tention is to use the competition to encouragecities to actively solve problems and also to<strong>in</strong>crease public awareness of the potential for localgovernments to seek new ways to improve city lifefor residents.The competition uses a range of <strong>in</strong>centives toencourage participation, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g cash prizes,publicity for short-listed and w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g cities andopportunities to engage with peers <strong>in</strong> other cities.While only five cities receive fund<strong>in</strong>g, 16 othercities received <strong>in</strong>put from experts and privatesector coaches, and the application process, which<strong>in</strong>cludes strong technical assistance from the<strong>Mayors</strong> Challenge team, is <strong>in</strong>tended to help localgovernments consider <strong>in</strong>novation <strong>in</strong> a structuredmanner, <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g the potential for every city tobenefit from participat<strong>in</strong>g. This <strong>in</strong>cludes ask<strong>in</strong>ghow the idea is a new approach to solv<strong>in</strong>g aproblem <strong>in</strong> a city, clarify<strong>in</strong>g how it will have amean<strong>in</strong>gful impact, demonstrat<strong>in</strong>g how it can beimplemented and contextualis<strong>in</strong>g how the ideamight be transferred to other cities. A significantportion of this task <strong>in</strong>volves teach<strong>in</strong>g cities to pitchand expla<strong>in</strong> ideas clearly so that the best ideas canbe shared as broadly as possible.City governments identify challenges andsolutions as part of their application and arerequired to research whether a similar <strong>in</strong>novationexists <strong>in</strong> other cities. Local partners – <strong>in</strong> this<strong>in</strong>stance Nesta, Euro<strong>Cities</strong> and LSE <strong>Cities</strong> –provided further <strong>in</strong>put on this. Beh<strong>in</strong>d the scenes,the challenge is supported by a selection committeemade up of urban, technology and governanceexperts, leverag<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Bloomberg</strong> Philanthropies’extensive network. The committee is responsiblefor select<strong>in</strong>g the 21 f<strong>in</strong>alists and pick<strong>in</strong>g the overallw<strong>in</strong>ners.Strategy consultants from Monitor Deloittewere tasked with help<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>alist cities to th<strong>in</strong>kthrough their theory of change, discuss<strong>in</strong>g theirimplementation options and challeng<strong>in</strong>g theirassumptions to <strong>in</strong>crease the quality of the f<strong>in</strong>alconcept. Before submitt<strong>in</strong>g an updated application,f<strong>in</strong>alists took part <strong>in</strong> an Ideas Camp, a two-dayworkshop dur<strong>in</strong>g which cities received <strong>in</strong>putfrom each other and from experts to expandand strengthen their ideas. This was designedto produce more focused, stronger applications.The five w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g cities receive implementationgrants, as well as <strong>in</strong>tensive assistance to accelerateimplementation. <strong>Bloomberg</strong> Philanthropies alsoprovides the group of 16 f<strong>in</strong>alists with tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g andother support to encourage their progress. Acrossall of these efforts is a commitment to captur<strong>in</strong>glessons learnt and shar<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>in</strong>formation withother cities.International JuryChristian Bason, Director of M<strong>in</strong>dLab (Denmark)Till Behnke, Founder of betterplace.org and Headof The Millicom Foundation (Germany)Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at theLondon School of Economics and Political Scienceand Director of LSE <strong>Cities</strong> (United K<strong>in</strong>gdom)Ron Daniel, Board Member, <strong>Bloomberg</strong>Philanthropies and Former Manag<strong>in</strong>g Partner,McK<strong>in</strong>sey & Company (United States)Bruno Giussani, European Director of TED(Switzerland)Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Advisor to theSecretary-General and Former Head of the UrbanProgramme at the OECD (Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development) (France)Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, FullProfessor at the Faculty of Economics of theUniversity of Coimbra and Former Secretary ofState for Adm<strong>in</strong>istrative Modernisation (Portugal)Christ<strong>in</strong>e Leitner, Senior Policy Advisor at theAustrian Federal M<strong>in</strong>istry for Science, Researchand Economy (Austria)Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of Nesta(United K<strong>in</strong>gdom)Bert<strong>in</strong> Nahum, President and CEO of MedtechSA (France)Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT Senseable City Laband Founder of Carlo Ratti Associati (Italy)Silvija Seres, Independent Investor and BoardMember and Manag<strong>in</strong>g Director of TechnoRocks(Norway)Iván Tosics, Manag<strong>in</strong>g Director of MetropolitanResearch Institute (Hungary)About47
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