Innovation
To continue growing sustainably and delivering high-quality services, the City of Stockholm relies on forward-thinking and innovation.
Innovation is essential to the city’s long-term economic, social, and ecological sustainability. A high capacity for innovation is a prerequisite for maintaining welfare and achieving the City’s vision. The City of Stockholm must actively contribute to strengthening and developing ecosystems and arenas for innovation.
Innovation plays a central role in the city’s sustainability efforts. Stockholm needs to develop new, horizontal and innovative approaches and technologies to address future challenges in a sustainable way. Achieving this requires a cultural shift – both in terms of deepened external collaboration and internal processes. This includes embracing systems thinking, training innovation leaders, transforming working methods, increasing the use of pre-commercial procurement, and evolving the city’s operational processes.
Leadership plays a key role in encouraging new ideas and solutions. To foster a work environment that inspires and promotes innovation, an open and permissive culture is essential.
To maintain Stockholm’s strong position in the global competition for investment, business establishment, and talent, collaboration that drives innovation is crucial. This must take place both within the city’s own operations and in partnership with other regional actors. A vital part of this work is cooperation with municipalities, regions, academia, and the private sector.
International cooperation enables Stockholm to naturally participate in global processes related to its priority areas.
International relations and EU policy
Stockholm’s established testbeds provide platforms to explore, evaluate, and develop organizational, technical, and sociological solutions.
Related Operations
The city’s innovation efforts are closely linked to operational and quality development, as well as the use of AI and digitalization as tools to achieve the goal of becoming a smart and connected city.
Operational and Quality Development
Organisation
Strategic innovation work is led by the Director of Innovation at the City Executive Office. This work aims to strengthen the city’s capacity for innovation and renewal, enhancing both quality and efficiency in municipal operations.
Policy documents
The annual budget, adopted by the City Council, is the ultimate governing document for all the City’s operations. Completing policy documents establish and clarify how the City’s operations should operate and how they should be run. Most of these documents are available in Swedish only.
Stockholm’s innovation work is based on the city’s Quality Programme. The programme outlines how continuous improvement, innovation, and digitalisation interact within the city’s systematic quality efforts to deliver high-quality services.