Innovation Lab
Definition
A dedicated team within government focused on testing new approaches to persistent problems, using rapid prototyping, user research, and experimentation. Innovation labs help government become more creative and responsive by providing space to try novel solutions without bureaucratic barriers that slow traditional processes. Successful labs identify promising innovations for scaling across government while discontinuing approaches that don’t work.
Louisville Context
Louisville has no formal innovation lab or capacity for rapid testing of new approaches. Metro Government typically implements programs at full scale without small-scale testing, making failures expensive and corrections slow. Peer cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco have innovation teams that rapidly test solutions, fail fast when things don’t work, and scale successes—enabling more effective, efficient government.
Why It Matters
Government faces complex problems that traditional bureaucratic approaches often can’t solve. Innovation labs provide structured ways to test new ideas quickly and cheaply before committing large budgets. This reduces the risk of expensive failures while increasing the likelihood of discovering approaches that significantly improve residents’ lives.
Dave’s Proposal
Dave will create a 5-person Metro Innovation Lab (funded within $1.025 billion budget) reporting directly to the Chief of Staff, empowered to work across departments testing new approaches to persistent problems (homelessness, illegal dumping, abandoned properties). The lab will run rapid pilots, rigorously evaluate results, scale successes, and abandon failures—bringing private sector innovation methods to government problem-solving.