This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the programme of work of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC). It is the result of a two-year policy dialogue between the OECD and Bloomberg Philanthropies, which engaged 147 cities around the globe.
The report and underlying policy dialogue were spearheaded and co-ordinated by Sena Segbedzi, Co‑ordinator of the OECD Champion Mayors Initiative (CFE), under the supervision of Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies, and Sustainable Development Division (CFE). The report was drafted by a team of OECD policy analysts composed of Andrew Lombardi (Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5), Marcos Díaz Ramírez (Chapters 1, 2, 3), Vu Tran (Chapters 3, 4, 5) and Maria Paula Caldas (Chapters 1, 2, 3). Paolo Veneri, Head of the Territorial Statistics and Analysis unit (CFE) and Rudiger Ahrend, Head of Economic Analysis, Data, and Statistics Division (CFE) provided oversight for the data and statistical components. Natalia Altman contributed to updating the survey instrument and deep engagement with respondents during the data collection phase.
The OECD would like to thank Bloomberg Philanthropies for their financial support and the excellent collaboration throughout the project, in particular James Anderson, Andrea Coleman, and Stephanie Wade. Special thanks are due to the Results 4 America and What Works Cities team, in particular Simone Brody and Jennifer Park, for providing the data use assessments for over 200 cities; as well as to the 147 city innovation staff members who participated in the OECD/Bloomberg Philanthropies Survey on Innovation Capacity. The OECD is also grateful to the academics and practitioners who shared valuable insights during the expert workshop held on 23 September 2020 , namely Anthony Arundel (UNU-MERIT), Ana Diaz-Aldret (CIDE), Markus Bugge (University of Oslo), Maria Paz Hermosilla (GobLab UAI), Neil Kleiman (NYU Wagner).
The final report was submitted to the OECD Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) on 20 July 2021 under the cote CFE/RDPC/URB(2021)13/REV1 for approval via written procedure by 28 August 2021.
Special thanks to Pilar Philip for co‑ordinating the publication of the report, to Meral Gedik for editing and formatting the report, and to Misha Pinkhasov for editing the report.