Improve the Innovation Technology Laboratory (Labprodam), Turning the Lab More Open, Mapping Groups Already Working on Free Technology, Such as Youth Groups, Startups and Collectives to Create Projects Similar to São Paulo’S Urban Mobility Laboratory (Mobilab). (SAO0005)

Issue to be Addressed: Access to São Paulo City Hall data is insufficient and the current format of LabProdam does not stimulate technology innovation neither social participation. Primary Obejctive: Improve LabProdam so it becomes more participative and innovative. Promote the integration and sharing of knowledge and experiences, in order to develop technology solutions that favor open government. Short Description: This commitment intends to develop LabProdam to adopt a more participative and innovative format, bringing youth, collectives and groups into its structure to stimulate and support the development of new solutions and improvements on Open Government. OGP Challenge: This commitment seeks to change the traditional way of searching solutions to different problems in society. By promoting the improvement of LabProdam, we seek to encourage technology innovation, in an participatory and democratic way, searching for efficient and multidimensional solutions for the city’s problems.

5. Innovation: Bolster São Paulo City Hall's network of innovation spaces and labs

Commitment text:

Improve and straighten [strengthen] the network of innovation spaces and labs from São Paulo City Hall, such as the Laboratório de Mobilidade Urbana de São Paulo (MobiLab), the Pátio Digital (SME) and the LabProdam, to become more open to social participation, technological innovation and to the use of open data, mapping the groups already working on free technology (as, for example, free software, open data principles and web patterns), youth groups, startups and collectives to develop open government projects.

Milestones

1. Conduct a collaborative mapping of the existing groups working on open technology and innovation and create a public network with interested entities in becoming partners of the innovation spaces from the City Hall.

2. Provide spaces for coworking, attending [abiding by] each innovative space guidelines, where young people, startups and collectives can develop projects in a collaborative format, having as reference the Laboratório de Mobilidade Urbana de São Paulo (MobiLab) and the Pátio Digital (SME).

3. Develop projects in partnership with these groups in order to encourage social participation, transparency and/or integrity through technological innovation, using free open tools (as for example free software and applying the open data principles and web patterns).

Commitment overview

Editorial Note: This commitment was updated by the government of São Paulo and resubmitted to OGP on June 2017. This commitment's modification relates to the changes in the city administration after the 2016 municipal elections ^{The full original text, approved in 2016, reads: 'Improve the Innovation Technology Laboratory (LabProdam), turning the lab more open, mapping groups already working on free technology, such as youth groups, startups and collectives to create projects similar to São Paulo's Urban Mobility Laboratory (MobiLab). 1. Conduct a collaborative mapping of the existing groups working on open technology and innovation and create a public network with interested entities in becoming LabProdam partners. 2. Turn LabProdam into a coworking space, where young people, startups and collectives can develop projects in a collaborative format, having as a frame of reference the Laboratory for urban mobility solutions of São Paulo (MobiLab). 3.Develop projects in partnership with these groups in order to encourage social participation, transparency and/or integrity by means of technology innovation, using free open tools'.} and, according to civil servants from the Municipal Secretariat for Innovation and Technology (SMIT), to the natural institutional growth within the City Hall ^{According to civil servants from the Municipal Secretariat for Innovation and Technology (SMIT) the growth of the City Hall has resulted in the creation of the SMIT, the approval of the Strategic Plan of Technology Information and Communication - PETIC and the launch of the Digital Patio (Pátio Digital), within the Education Secretariat (SME). The inputs where provided by SMIT during the IRM report review, in May 2018.} .

Commitment Aim

Overall Objective & Relevance

This commitment seeks to address two main issues. It focuses on the lack of sufficient accessible data from São Paulo City Hall. It also seeks to create a mechanism that stimulates technological innovations, social participation, and use of public data. To tackle these challenges, the government aims to foster innovation and citizen participation in a series of City Hall innovation hubs and labs. These include the São Paulo Urban Mobility Laboratory (Laboratório de Mobilidade Urbana de São Paulo, MobiLab), the Education Secretariat-led Digital Courtyard (Pátio Digital), and the Public Company Laboratory (LabProdam). It also aims to integrate those innovation hubs into one network capable of boosting project development and innovative technological solutions to city problems.

This commitment will map and engage civil society groups working on open technology. It will also open the existing innovation hubs and labs to those actors and develop joint open-government-related projects with them.

The commitment combines the consolidation of spaces for citizen-driven and citizen-led technological innovation in urban challenges with the integration of existing technological innovation hubs and labs. Thus, it contributes to two OGP values: civic participation and technology and innovation for transparency and accountability.

Specificity and Potential Impact

The IRM researcher considers this commitment of medium specificity. It provides a set of activities that could be verifiable. However, fully measuring the outcome would require interpretation from the reader. For instance, the first milestone vaguely defines the planned 'public network' with civil society technology and innovation groups both by its format and its activities. Also, the creation of a 'network of innovation spaces' (mentioned as part of the overall commitment text) is not further explored or translated into concrete activities in a separate milestone. Finally, regarding the second and third milestones, more specificity could have been provided on the planned joint projects to be developed within this network of innovation hubs and labs. For example, the commitment could outline what type of projects and/or how many new initiatives.

If fully implemented as written, this commitment would have an incremental potential impact. Yet it would be a positive step to strengthen existing open technological innovation hubs and labs and create opportunities for developing new innovation pilots in other thematic and sectorial policy areas. ^{Interview with Fernanda Campanucci, civil servant (15 May 2017).}

Completion
Limited

This commitment was officially reformulated during implementation and had limited completion. The government changed the original language in June 2017, following a lengthy internal negotiation process during the first six months. City Hall changed the language because the agreed-upon 2016 text did not fully reflect the institutional changes within the Municipal Public Technology Company (PRODAM), nor did it match the priorities of the incoming government. ^{Focus group with São Paulo Aberta and CGM civil servants (4 May 2017), focus group with CSOs of the Shared Management Forum (18 May 2017), and interview with Vitor Cipriano de Fazio and Bruno Martinelli from SMIT (1 September 2017).} Informants from the newly created Secretariat for Innovation and Technology (SMIT) suggested that it was a strategic change to embrace new open government initiatives carried forward by the current government, such as the Municipal Policy of Information Technology and Communication Governance (PMGTIC), the new arrangements for government-society interaction as the Residência Maker (in partnership with the Health Secretariat and the Federal Savings Bank - Caixa Econômica Federal) and the partnerships with national and international innovation laboratories ^{Input provided by SMIT during the IRM report review, in May 2018. About the Residência Maker initiative, see call for proposals, published in January 2018, at http://www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/cidade/secretarias/inovacao/noticias/?p=248166} .

Negotiations took place within City Hall and between government and civil society organizations in the OGP Shared Management Forum (the Forum). On the government side, dialogue took place between the Municipal Secretariat for International Relations (SMRI) and SMIT ). SMRI and the Office of the Municipal Comptroller - the governmental bodies in the Forum - also worked together. They strived to reconcile what civil society perceived as the intended open government aim of the commitment, and the incoming government vision on how to foster public policy innovations and what should be prioritized. Civil society focused on citizen participation, citizen-led technological innovation, and open software. As a compromise solution, the government hosted a new round of public consultations on this commitment. Its virtual consultation received no contributions. It also hosted a public hearing on 8 June 2017 to present the introduced changes in the commitment language and hear from the public. ^{See 'Minutes of the XI Forum Meeting (08/06/2017),' to which the IRM researcher had access.} The new language emphasized the government's commitment to 'open innovation.' This innovation included the promotion of citizen participation and citizen co-creation of technological innovation in a series of labs and innovation hubs not only in PRODAM. These efforts would simultaneously encourage city's innovation hubs to act in a networked manner. During the first six months of the year (even before the final agreement on the commitment's new language), São Paulo Aberta initiated implementation of the first milestone. It sought to conduct collaborative mapping of the existing groups working on open technology and innovation in the city. The outcome of this mapping is available online. ^{The collaborative mapping can be found at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B91yVgdvPA9-cGVGLXlFcXhUQVk.} Vitor Cipriano de Fazio and Bruno Martinelli, from SMIT, confirmed that this mapping has been referred to when thinking about new pilot projects. ^{Interview with Vitor Cipriano de Fazio and Bruno Martinelli from SMIT (1 September 2017).} The Secretariat states having successfully mobilized and interacted with technology and innovation civil society groups, mainly through the activities in the Pátio Digital and Mobilab. In the IRM researcher's view, those growing interactions are promising, but insufficient to validate or provide clear evidence that a 'public network' is being created, even if informally. Nonetheless, if interactions are sustained and increase in frequency, such a network of civil society groups with expertise in innovation and technology (as envisioned in the first milestone), could come to fruition in the coming years ^{Interview with Joara Marchezini and Caroline Burle from RETPS (21 November 2017), interview with Renata Galf from Transparência Brasil (14 November 2017), and interview with Haydee Svab from Transparência Hacker (23 November 2017).} .

The government transferred implementation of the second and third milestones, which refer to creating spaces for co-working and developing joint projects with those identified groups, to SMIT when the commitment was reformulated. Based on the agreed commitment text and the activities that were carried out during the implementation period, the IRM researcher found encouraging, yet still limited, signs of the creation or consolidation of the diverse set of spaces and joint projects, not all directly resulting from the commitment's planned activities.

Civil servants at SMIT pointed out that the labs under their purview ^{According to the Inter-secretarial Administrative Act (portaria intersecretarial) No. 001/2017, between both SMIT and SMT.} were testing out, in 2017, new models of collaboration with external stakeholders (in both civil society and the private sector). These models were based on shorter 'visiting schemes' rather than co-working or residencies, for instance in the case of the Residência Maker initiative. Another example of such labs can be found in Mobilab (a joint venture between the Secretariat of Transport and SMIT).

On the other hand, in the case of Pátio Digital (hosted by the Education Secretariat), considered a highly successful innovation hub, ^{Interview with Haydee Svab (23 November 2017), interview with Vitor Cipriano de Fazio and Bruno Martinelli from SMIT (1 September 2017), and interview with José Adão from PIDS (15 November 2017).} collaboration took place in a series of formats different from the co-working space. The formats range from open application challenges and open subcontracting to dialogues with the school community. LabProdam, a project led by PRODAM, is perceived as the least developed initiative, due to changes in PRODAM's leadership and project management in early 2017.

As for the joint projects specified in the commitment language to promote the use of free open source tools, both civil servants and external stakeholders identify promising initiatives. They include Pátio Digital's Café Hackers on open public procurement, the Open Education Initiative, the Open Meal initiative, and the Mapatona on school transportation. Also included are virtual consultations on education-related matters, such as uniforms and school meals, and a range of other open data projects. ^{For a comprehensive list of all initiatives, see http://patiodigital.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/.} Informants attribute these achievements to the Education Secretariat having achieved a virtuous path of its own due to committed senior leadership in the secretariat and highly engaged technical civil servants. ^{Interview with Vitor Cipriano de Fazio and Bruno Martinelli from SMIT (1 September 2017), and interview with Haydee Svab from Transparência Hacker (23 November 2017).} Those informants do not perceive the Pátio's achievements as sufficiently linked to the remaining OGP-related activities led by São Paulo Aberta and the Forum. Informants also resent the little coordination between those processes during this pilot action plan. Alternatively, representatives from SMIT believe the Secretariat and the OGP Commitment had a catalyzing role to the Pátio and the Education Secretariat ^{Input provided by SMIT during the IRM report review, in May 2018.} .

Lastly, as for the commitment's final goal of networked action from labs and hubs , civil servants from SMIT confirm the secretariat is currently studying new options based on models of 'network governance for innovation.' These models are less institutionally or legally formalized. As with the remaining milestones, Forum members believe this ongoing reflection, within SMIT, on possible networked innovation governance has yet to be shared with the OGP Forum.

Early results: did it open government?
Civic participation: Marginal

The government integrated this commitment partially into the overall shared management of São Paulo's OGP action plan. In June 2017, the government renegotiated the commitment language, redefined the leading department, and established a new focus. These efforts did not set a clear division of roles between both leading governmental agencies, SMRI and SMIT. Consequently, on both sides, there was no ownership, and there were appropriation challenges. The Shared Management Forum rarely discussed Commitment 5 in general meetings. Both São Paulo Aberta and civil society organizations monitoring plan implementation had little or no information on the status of the commitment, except for tangential information on MobiLab and Pátio Digital. This information came from external information sources and from parallel activities not always related to those agreed on in the OGP action plan ^{Interview with Ana Dienstmann (07 August 2017), interview with Eduardo Barboza (07 August 2017), interview with Ana Dienstmann and Eduardo dos Anjos Barboza, civil servants from São Paulo Aberta/SMRI (01 December 2017), interview with Haydee Svab from Transparência Hacker (23 November 2017), interview with Joara Marchezini and Caroline Burle from RETPS (21 November 2017).} .

Consequently, the IRM researcher did find evidence, albeit incipient, of a strong effort to create an inter-secretarial network, in partnership with civil society and change the way the government creates or improves opportunities and capacities for the public to inform or influence decisions on innovative solutions to city problems. Taking into account the diverging perceptions of governmental and non-governmental actors involved in the implementation of this commitment's activities or monitoring the open government agenda in the city, the IRM researcher believes the most consolidated and promising initiatives, for instance those found in Education, do not exhaust the commitment's aim to integrate the variety of groups identified in the initial mapping and make them part of municipal innovation, through co-creation of policy solutions in a range of sectorial policies. Open government results are thus, marginal in this first year, with potential greater impact in the future, as initiatives consolidate and grow in scale.

From the perspective of OGP core values, Pátio Digital's promising results on the use of technology and innovation tools for expanding civic participation in educational policies serve as foundational steps in creating a citizen-focused technological innovation culture in the city. The government should leverage these efforts in the coming year. It could use the initiative as a study case in the Open INFO Network (see Commitment 4: Institutionalization). It could also use the initiative as a central node of the emerging network of laboratories and innovation hubs sought for in Commitment 5.

Recommendations

To move this commitment's intended reforms forward, the following recommendations could be considered by the São Paulo government:

1. Create more opportunities for other secretariats to learn from the Pátio Digital experience. This learning should apply to both those secretariats currently hosting labs and hubs as well as those who have showed interest in doing so. This can be done, for instance, under the exchange and capacity-development activities promoted by the Open INFO Network (see Commitment 4: Institutionalization).

2. Set up a new round of reflections on how São Paulo Aberta and the Shared Management Forum can be more closely involved with the emerging innovation network led by the Secretariat for Innovation and Technology. Their expertise on open government can be valuable to the ongoing reflections on how to boost citizen-focused open innovation.

3. Considering the priority given to innovation and technology by the current administration, include some of the emerging sectorial pilot open technology initiatives, mostly for service delivery, in future OGP action plans. Also ensure that those implementing them can engage in OGP to exchange and collaborate with other subnational entities.