Regional Mayors Announce New Bay Area Partnership To Modernize City Services
Startup In Residence Program Expands to New Regional Partnership to Improve Bay Area Residents Quality of Life & Showcases New Technology Products Developed at 2016 Startup In Residence Demo Day
San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee joins Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, San Leandro Mayor Pauline Cutter, and West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon to announce the results of the 2016 Startup in Residence (STIR) program and to highlight new technology products developed from the sixteen week program to address regional civic challenges.
Fourteen startups from across North America join thirteen government departments in San Francisco, Oakland, San Leandro, and West Sacramento to share technology products co-developed to address civic challenges and improve the quality of life for Bay Area residents.
“The Startup in Residence program is a model for civic innovation and regional collaboration,” said Mayor Lee. “This program is a unique opportunity for government agencies and startups to think creatively about how we can all work together to modernize government to benefit residents.”
STIR builds on the success of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation 2014 pilot initiative, which produced six technology products designed to meet San Francisco specific needs such as indoor navigation for visually impaired travelers at San Francisco International Airport.
This year, STIR expanded regionally and the participating startups are working on issues including streamlining the foster care application process, creating a mobile solution to support early education outreach and enrollment, and developing a tool to assess damage in the aftermath of an emergency such as an earthquake.
“STIR is a platform for governments to work together with civic-minded private sector businesses on regional issues,” said Mayor Schaaf. “This work is critical because the challenges we’re facing don’t respect geographic boundaries. We have to look everywhere for solutions beginning right here in our region by learning and sharing across the public and private sectors.”
“Expansion of the STIR program to additional cities in the region has accelerated our willingness to explore new technologies and learn from each other,” said Mayor Cutter. “We look forward to growing these city collaborations in the years to come.”
“It’s been a rewarding experience for our Police and Fire Departments to work with startups through STIR,” said Mayor Cabaldon. “The agile development methodology and iterative approach to project management that our staff have learned through the program has immense short and long term value. Public-private partnerships like this one are helping us to deliver services more effectively and inject a fail fast, fail often, start up mentality into the culture of government.”
STIR offers education sessions for government and startup staff in areas including partnerships, procurement, open data, civic tech trends, technology marketplace and new methods of product development. Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center and the San Francisco Department of Technology generously hosted program participants for the education sessions.
“The opportunity to be a founding partner on STIR perfectly embodies our organization’s commitment to support entrepreneurs with the mentors and educational resources they need to be successful,” said Nicola Corzine, Executive Director, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center. “We look forward to supporting the growth and expansion of STIR in 2017 and beyond.”
The 2016 STIR program was supported by a number of organizations including a grant from the Economic Development Administration, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, Civic Makers, ImpactHubSF, Runway Incubator, Wearable IoT World Labs as well as several thought leaders and mentors.