Olivia from Govlaunch sits down with Adam Beck, a local government pro based in Brisbane, Australia to discuss the role data leadership plays in helping cities become smarter.
As cities continue to leverage data for better decision-making and better outcomes, driving a data culture has never been more crucial. Learn about why local government practitioners should foster a data-centric culture of their own and the steps necessary to achieve this.
Episode Guests:
Adam Beck - Executive Director, Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand
Adam is the founding Executive Director of Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand, an organisation that is part of the world's largest network of smart cities practitioners and policymakers who's goal is to make cities more liveable, workable, and sustainable.
Visit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.
Lindsay: (00:05)
Welcome to the Govlaunch podcast. Govlaunch is the Wiki for local government innovation. And on this podcast, we're sharing the stories of local government innovators and their efforts to build smarter governments. Today, Olivia sits down with Adam Beck, a local government pro based in Brisbane Australia to discuss the role data leadership plays in helping cities become smarter. As cities continue to leverage data for better decision-making and better outcomes, driving a data culture has never been more crucial. I'll turn now to Olivia to dive into this topic and learn about why local government practitioners should foster a data-centric culture of their own and the steps necessary to achieve this.
Olivia: (00:49)
Hi, I'm Olivia from Govlaunch, and I'm here with Adam back from Brisbane. Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Adam: (00:56)
Olivia. Thanks for having me today. It's a delight to have a conversation with you about smart cities for me as an individual, as a practitioner, I'm a urban and social planner by trade. I've been working sort of professionally for around about 28 years. I've spent about half of that in the private sector, the other half in the mission driven nonprofit sector. And I suppose I'd describe myself as a cities person. I've worked on a whole range of sort of horizontal and vertical infrastructure type projects. So cities is where I spend most of my time these days and loving it dearly.
Olivia: (01:40)
I think a lot of our audience would definitely resonate with being called city people. So we appreciate that. Today we're going to talk about smart cities and some of the common challenges they're faced with. Adam, a great starting point for us would be for you to share with our listeners what a smart city is in your own words.
Adam: (01:59)
Quite simply, Olivia a smart city is one that uses tech and data for good. And I wanted to probably highlight firstly that the word city and smart cities is one that we use interchangeably. So it can scale up from a street, a building, a neighborhood across an entire region. So it's scale neutral, but it's also a geography neutral agenda in our eyes, regional and rural areas along with large metropolises. So it's around this idea of using technology and data as an enabler to accelerate the great outcomes that we want to achieve and our communities and places and spaces and cities.
Olivia: (02:49)
Really helpful starting point. Thank you for that. So you work with the New Zealand and Australian Smart Cities Council. Could you tell our audience a little bit more about the organization?
Adam: (02:59)
Certainly. In the region here in Australia and New Zealand, we have just turned five years old. So we're having celebrate and thank you. We're celebrating our fifth anniversary in 2021, but as a organization globally, we were almost a decade old. It all started back in Seattle in the Pacific Northwest of the US back in late 2012. And we were predominantly focused in country, in the US for our first two to three years. Before we started to really organically expand globally, not really through any particular plan, but the smart cities agenda and movement started growing and many nations started to invest in the idea and the opportunities. So we saw ourself go to India in 2015. Australia, New Zealand, we set up on the founding executive director here. We started in 2016 and we've also got presence and sort of boots on the ground in places around Europe and also Southeast Asia. So a global organization member-based, we describe ourselves more as sort of a coalition of policymakers and practitioners. So both demand and supply side stakeholders coming together to really advance the idea that tech and data can be a powerful force of good and change in our cities and communities.
Olivia: (04:39)
What are some of the benefits of working together from a more regional and country perspective? Some of our audience might be interested in potentially joining forces with other smart cities. What are some of the benefits that you've seen in the last five years of this organization having been started?
Adam: (04:56)
That's a great question, Olivia, and I suppose I'd say the last two years, two to three years is where we've seen significant impact and opportunity from a lot more peer to peer learning, I would say so as more and more cities have started to embrace the idea of checking data as an enabler for good, we see more and more proof of concepts and pilot projects being deployed just here in Australia and New Zealand. We've gone from sort of having a handful of cities running pilot projects five years ago to sort of close to 200 now. And as more cities get involved, we've seen the appetite and the willingness to share really grow because there's no better way learn than to talk to someone else that has done it before who can share their lessons learned. So we certainly encourage any city anywhere in the world. That's looking to pursue an opportunity or advance their journey with respect to smart cities that the first starting point is to build a peer network and talk to others and learn before doing anything. And we're finding the, the level of Goodwill, uh, really high at the moment and that's really rewarding to see cities, uh, helping other cities.
Olivia: (06:21)
So that's really helpful from the organizational perspective. There's obviously a lot of value for smart cities working together and collaborating. Now, to delve into some actual pragmatic examples of smart cities. I know that you're very passionate, as am I, about smarter data leadership and that's at the heart of a lot of smart cities journeys and what they're focused on. How can cities make smart investments to become more data-driven and how do these investments tie into some of the big questions that cities are grappling with currently around equity and sustainability?
Adam: (06:55)
Another excellent question, Olivia and data leadership is very much a passion of ours. There's often, uh, an over emphasis and focus on the technology part, which of course is very important. But in many cases, the technology is merely a way in which we're gathering and sensing what's happening and, uh, gathering intelligence. And that comes with great opportunity, but also risks. And so the idea of data leadership is one for us that embodies five core vitals. We call them, which is purpose, privacy, security, ethics, and governance. And going to your point there in your question about really important global issues like social equity and sustainability, that of course is the starting point when it comes to a data journey, which is identifying what's important, what your goals are, what your targets are, which should then of course shape the data that you collect. And that's why the first data leadership vital for us is having a very clear purpose.
Adam: (08:13)
And so for cities that are looking to enhance social equity to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis, those very clear goals and purposes for us is the starting point for data leadership. And in terms of cities, making greater investment in being data driven and making better decisions, there's a lot to navigate. There's a lot of risks. There's a lot of cost as well, but the upside far outweighs each of those. And so we think that it really starts and needs to be grounded in some very clear policy and purpose as I've mentioned. Security and privacy are two that of course are, uh, very, very much talked about. But again, we also don't want to leave out the more squishy, important issues such as ethics and, and governance, which kind of is the glue that binds it all together. But, but above all, Olivia having a culture, having a data-driven culture, having a culture in an organization that values data and the benefit that it can bring is, is fundamentally paramount for success in terms of data storage and data security and data collection.
Adam: (09:37)
We have technology that can help us with that. That's never really been a barrier and we don't think it will be a barrier. But how we, as people within organizations go about making decisions on which data we gather, which data we open and keep closed, which data we share, um, how we store it, where we store it, those decisions come down to people. So a lot of data and data leadership related issues, more than anything people issues. And so having a good culture, having good skills and resources available are key success factors that we've observed over the last decade.
Olivia: (10:21)
I'd love to go back to what you shared just now around the culture piece. What have you seen cities do practically to foster that data culture? Not necessarily from the technical perspective or, the great points that you raised around storage and even privacy and all of those really important factors that come into play for cities to have great data leadership, but culturally, what have you seen leaders do in cities that have just really fostered that enthusiasm around becoming more data-driven?
Adam: (10:52)
Yeah. It's not too different from any other transformation agenda, Olivia, from what we've seen, whether it's workplace health and safety, whether it's quality assurance, whether it's the green building movement, uh, smart cities is just another transformation agenda where we want to try and do things differently, do things better. And the formula remains the same, which is engage your stakeholders early and often, uh, give them access to the best information that you can to allow them to understand what their role in the transformation process. And so with data, it's a lot of, you know, digital and data literacy as a starting point, making sure that each and every department or agency, if I just talk about government for a moment, making sure that everyone understands what data they currently have, what data they're currently collecting, how they're going about that process with respect to best practice and relevant standards.
Adam: (12:00)
So a lot of it's an education play, and it always has been with transformation that education providing the space and opportunities for stakeholders and staff to come together and learn. All of those common attributes that we're familiar with that helps to, to build that culture. So building a data culture or a data driven culture is, is the process is, is not necessarily unlike other transformation agendas that we, that we often pursue. Data and technology is a little bit different in that it is changing very rapidly, very swiftly. So at times it can be a bit challenging to keep across everything that's happening. New and emerging innovations business models are changing very rapidly, but again, what it means to be a good policy maker and practitioner is you're keeping yourself informed, you know, as an individual, as a professional, you're engaging, you're learning, you're sharing you’re, of course, willing to try new things, but for that to happen, you need that broader organizational support and throughout the hierarchy up and down, making sure that the, that the political coverage is there for you to sort of make mistakes and learn from that.
Adam: (13:22)
So a lot of common attributes go into helping build, uh, a data led culture within an organization, but it doesn't have to be scary necessarily. I always like to recommend that you start with the data that you've got stop collecting new data or, or don't, don't get obsessed with collecting new data, have a look at what you've got, do a data audit. Uh, are you currently using data to actually make decisions or are you just gathering data? And you'll be surprised at some of the responses that we get when we asked very simple questions like that. So we, think there's, there's easy on ramps to building, you know, good data leadership, uh, in a government organization. And there's plenty of guidance out there and indeed many, many peers that you can talk to who have gone on this journey before you, that's an excellent starting point as well.
Olivia: (14:17)
I'm sure our listeners will be reassured about what you've shared in that traditional transformation models and focusing on innovation culture more broadly are solid foundations to fostering data-driven cultures within cities. Do you know of examples where data investments directly improved equity outcomes?
Adam: (14:38)
I have. I have seen in more recent times, Olivia, a lot more use, strategic use, uh and prudent use of, digital and social media as a really rich form of gathering intelligence about how our community is thinking and feeling. It's often a tap that never turns off in terms of a data flow, often of raw emotion and feeling. And there's a lot of people that think, for example, some of our vulnerable populations, like our elderly don't really interact on social media, but in fact, around the world, in some, in some regions, you know, the over fifties, is at times, you know, one of the cohorts that has the largest increase in social media uptake. So we're seeing more and more cities tapping into those sources, those data sources to get a sense of what's important to the community.
Adam: (15:48) Um, and you know, when you've got 10,000 data points, every 10 minutes flowing on how people are thinking and feeling, and of course you need to sort of scrape through that to make sure there's certainly some cleansing and quality data coming through. But we're seeing very strategic investments by cities in using data sources, such as digital and social media to get greater insight on what's important for their community. We're also seeing a lot more investment in financial and spending data. And we saw this as a really important one during the COVID pandemic cities in many instances, really didn't know what the impact on small businesses were.
Adam: (16:41)
And small businesses are often suburban or neighborhood level businesses that provide really important, you know, goods and services to our communities, most vulnerable, um, and understanding which businesses, uh, and what neighborhoods and geographically spatially, uh, which places and communities throughout a city were more active than others, which, which, which communities was still providing opportunity and delivering services to the community.
Adam: (17:17)
We saw, um, we saw an increase in investment in that type of data. Uh, but of course the other, the other thing that the COVID health pandemic shown light on very brightly was, was sort of our digital divide as well. And so that brought idea of digital equity, uh, and now our most vulnerable populations within our communities, uh, having access, uh, to just a simple connection so that they could do online banking or find out latest information and alerts. Um, it's certainly highlighted that there's still a lot of work to do there in terms of providing some basic, um, digital connectivity. So we certainly have noted that the last 12 to 18 months has really brought this issue further to the top of our thought list.
Adam: (18:12)
And I think many cities have a new appreciation for data because at our time of most need, we weren't necessarily positioned or equipped with the best data to make the best decisions and to ensure that we didn't leave anyone behind. So I think the tide is turning on that digital equity, digital inclusion, basic connectivity. And as I mentioned, work from home schooling from home, the pandemic has certainly really given us some sort of items that we need to think more about and invest more in. And I think the coming two to three years, we're gonna see a lot more response and investment. Uh, and we've started to see that already the, the annual budgeting processes of many cities posts will not post pandemic was sort of still in it, but since, you know, post 2020 we have seen the data is there, you can open up budget papers and you can see a greater investment in digital and data literacy and providing that to our community ensuring that we're providing opportunities for our most vulnerable to access those services and really not be left behind. So it's been in some way a really important learning curve the last 12, 18 months for many cities around this issue.
Olivia: (19:38)
So shifting gears a bit thinking of data leadership from the perspective of smaller municipalities, how can smaller cities leverage the good practice you've mentioned so far?
Adam: (19:51)
Well, I was, really exposed to a very interesting case study in 2019, which demonstrated to me that size doesn't matter when it comes to smart cities and data leadership. And it was in 2019 that we met with, and we hung out with the mayor from the city of seat pleasant in the United States and Sea Pleasant is a very small municipality just outside of district of Columbia. It has a population of 4,700 people. Um, so in some respects, it's tiny and the journey, the story that may Eugene Grant tells about how he has approached the smart cities agenda for his tiny city is, is hugely inspiring. And in some way, no different whatsoever from any big, large metropolis, it was about identifying the clear outcomes that he wanted to deliver for rate payers and tax payers, and ensuring that he took full advantage of the technology and data enablers and solutions that would help deliver those outcomes.
Adam: (21:17)
But one of the other, I think really important factors that made them successful and continues to make them successful is his leadership style and his approach, and the way that he interprets the smart cities agenda. And he views himself as the CEO of a company and his shareholders, uh, his citizens, and it's his job to return an investment, uh, return dividends back to his citizens. And in many instances, he says that having data leadership at the core powered by technology where appropriate where relevant is a very powerful tool to deliver value and the dividend and better services and infrastructure to his citizens.
Adam: (22:16)
So I was, uh, I was really blown away by that story. And that case study in 2019, I went out to Sea pleasant. We met with the mayor, we saw everything that they were doing, and they're doing everything that a large metropolis is doing, but it's just on a smaller scale. Um, the theory hasn't changed, the approach doesn't change. He can get away with certain things, being a smaller municipality. He knows those people more intimately, and obviously can build a lot of trust, um, ensure that there's transparency. He's very transparent and regularly reporting publicly on social media to his citizens, what's happening, what's going on the deals that are being done, the investments that are being made.
Adam: (23:06)
So I was really, uh, I was really inspired by that journey of, of city of sea pleasant, because it demonstrated that, uh, that size doesn't matter when it comes to technology and data being a force for good. So I'd certainly encourage any cities that are listening that may be in that sort of small to mid-size category to certainly reach out to the city of Sea Pleasant and also many others that are, have been on this journey for quite some time.
Olivia: (23:36)
In the Govlaunch community, we have seen in many cases, the more innovative ideas actually come from the smaller municipalities, which is really impressive. And oftentimes they're just a little bit more nimble than some of the larger, more bureaucratic metropolises. All really helpful insights. What does this look like though from a policy perspective? I'd love to talk more about the policies specifically needed in order to ensure that cities are actually better leveraging the digital economies that we've grown accustomed to perhaps a bit beyond just the data leadership piece and more along the lines of what specific policies are needed in order for smart cities to thrive.
Adam: (24:19)
That's a great question. And I, I'm a bit of a policy wonk, but one thing I have observed in the technology and data space is that policymaking around this agenda has certainly been one that has evolved in terms of the process. And I don't know whether this is for good or bad, but it's become addicted to proof of concepts and pilots. So a lot of proofing out before then creating policy or, or amending existing policy. So it's one that it can be a long road to the development of good policy, depending on the culture and the risk appetite of the municipality. As you rightly just mentioned, then some smaller municipalities can kind of get away with more, they're more nimble, more agile.
Adam: (25:15)
Um, much of that has to do with the leaders internally and their appetite for risk. A lot of this comes down to appetite for risk, but of course it's also shaped strongly by the mood and the attitude of citizens. And most municipalities are driven by delivering better outcomes for what their citizens need or want. So again, smart city policymaking, technically isn't really any different, except for the fact that there's some pinch points. I would describe them as along the way, that results in probably a higher level of iteration. So a lot of technology and data solutions, because they knew because they're rapidly evolving. It means that sometimes the outcomes are uncertain and government often doesn't like uncertainty, certainly procurement processes. Doesn't like uncertain uncertainty. When we procure 12 pencils, we know we're going to get 12 pencils because we're very familiar with pencils and what they do when it comes to tech and data solutions. Sometimes we're not as familiar with the outcomes and what they do, but we know that it's important to, to, to, to give it a go and try and we need to pilot. So that's why pilots and proof of concepts have been common.
Adam: (26:46)
But there's some really great examples around the world where test beds have been established deliberate efforts by municipalities to test and try, bring in academia, bring in the private sector under sort of strict rules and with boundaries to try a whole range of things before then shaping their policy. And I would point locally here to the city of Melbourne in Australia, they've had an IOT and 5g test bed up and running for a good couple of years now.
Adam: (27:22)
I'd also point to the city of Wellington in New Zealand as again, leaders in, in trying and iterating. Um, and in both cases being led from an outcomes perspective, you know, very clear goals and targets for their cities, which makes the smart cities and the data leadership job so much easier when you know who you are as an organization and where your community wants to go and what your goals and targets are.
Adam: (27:53)
So it's an evolving space. You know, we've seen the EU and the horizon 2020 work, uh, tinker and play with many different approaches to policymaking. Uh, we've seen top-down policy making, for example, come out of India in the U S with he original white house smart cities program. We saw top down, bottom up. But you know, most nations, most large nations regions have now spent a good two to five years at a national level investing in smart cities from a policy-making perspective, whether it's the US, Canada's had the smart infrastructure challenge. Australia's had the smart cities and suburbs program. In Southeast Asia, Asia, the Asian smart cities network has been up and running for a couple of years, a hundred smart cities program in India.
Adam: (28:44)
There is so much good information out there and lessons learned and case studies that can really help us, I think, shortcut to better outcomes. So for those that are just starting on the smart cities journey now, it's, it's almost a perfect time because so many have tried this and failed and shared their learnings, but also so many have succeeded and really advanced great outcomes that I'm sort of borrowing with permission or stealing with permission, as I say, is a fantastic strategy and starting point.
Olivia: (29:20)
I would be remiss to not mention that we recorded two Govlaunch podcast episodes with both Melbourne and Wellington so definitely check those out. What final advice Adam would you give to other local government practitioners looking to become more data-driven in their smart city journeys that you haven't already mentioned?
Adam: (29:42)
I would say think big and start small, many believe that you need to go big and many believe that this is a, a big, risky, costly journey. And it is if you make it that way. As I have mentioned, the some very simple, nimble free starting points. So I really encourage any municipality to start with what you've got before there are any new investments. So leverage legacy projects and legacy infrastructure, uh, leverage your existing data, understand what it is, but I will also say that those, those vitals, those fundamentals have to be in place. We continue to see, I think, some good cybersecurity and privacy policy. Um, but we still see a lacking of a clear, documented purpose. And it sounds simple having a purpose for data and every municipality would go, yes, of course we have a purpose for data, but then when you say, show us, how, how does that happen? Often it's crickets and everyone thinks that ethics and governance is super important, but in terms of clearly documenting what that means for the organization and how you're going to activate that many are challenged. So start with the vitals, think big, start small, start in house, leverage existing and legacy opportunities. That's probably how I'd summarize that.
Olivia: (31:30)
We're looking forward to seeing more cities embrace data cultures of their own as they continue on their smart city journeys. Thanks for joining us today, Adam,
Adam: (31:39)
It's been a pleasure, Olivia, thanks so much.
Lindsay: (31:50)
I'm Lindsay Pica-Alfono and this podcast was produced by Govlaunch the Wiki for local government innovation. You can subscribe to hear more stories like this, wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a local government innovator, we hope you'll help us on our mission to build the largest free resource for local governments globally. You can join to search and contribute to the wiki@govlaunch.com. Thanks for tuning in. We hope to see you next time on the Govlaunch podcast.