In a bid to revitalise urban economies and drive innovation, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has unveiled a new global initiative, named the Alliance for Urban Innovation.
This endeavour aims to bridge the gap between urban innovators, entrepreneurs and new markets, fostering a more resilient economic fabric in key cities worldwide. The initiative was officially launched in Detroit on 11 October 2023, during the Urban Transformation Summit, a gathering of global innovation district leaders, business executives, and government officials from more than 25 countries.
Urban innovation
The Alliance for Urban Innovation emerges as a collaborative effort to tackle the post-pandemic urban challenges, with Detroit, Ottawa and San Francisco as its initial focus cities. Bedrock, a Detroit-based real estate firm, and Invest Ottawa, an economic development agency in Ottawa, have been appointed as the inaugural co-chairs of the Alliance, symbolising a collaborative approach across public and private sectors.
This new initiative aligns with the WEF’s broader agenda of aiding cities in their post-Covid recovery, which commenced two years ago with the establishment of the Centre for Urban Transformation.
Bedrock’s contribution to this alliance was felt with the unveiling of the Urban Tech Xchange, a platform designed to accelerate the growth of start-ups by providing them with a testing ground within Bedrock’s property portfolio in Detroit and Cleveland. Drawing inspiration from the Detroit Smart Parking Lab model, the Xchange aims to offer innovators essential access to data and infrastructure, enhancing urban human interaction.
Alliance initiative
Elsewhere, Invest Ottawa is set to host the Alliance’s first global showcase in 2024, a move that is expected to spotlight Ottawa’s Area X.O facility as a global hub for tech innovation and draw in leading companies, government leaders and innovation districts from across the globe.
San Francisco, still reeling from the pandemic’s impact on its business district, presents the first real test for the Alliance. Earlier in the year, the WEF, in collaboration with Deloitte, Salesforce, Citi and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, initiated the Yes San Francisco (Yes SF) Urban Sustainability Challenge.
The challenge, which received a response from more than 140 businesses and early-stage ventures, seeks to revitalise San Francisco by enabling a select group of innovators to scale their operations in the city.
This initiative has already garnered a robust coalition of more than 20 public and private sector partners, committed to providing both in-kind and financial resources to support budding entrepreneurs. Deloitte and Citi are among the notable names, offering their networks and resources to nurture the Yes SF ecosystem and support the growth of selected start-ups and innovators.
[Read more: Centre for Cities warns against sector-centric strategy for innovation hotspots]
