Accelerating sustainable urban futures: a practical guide for challenge-driven innovation in cities

What we actually learned from running innovation challenges in cities👇

Forget the hype, here’s what really makes challenge-driven innovation work:

🧠 Define the problem well. Vague = useless. Spend time with communities and map the system first.

🔑 Don’t run it alone. The best results come from collaboration: local government, residents, startups, NGOs, researchers — all at the table.

📣 Communications matter. Not just for PR, but to build trust, attract ideas, and make sure people understand the process.

⚖️ Inclusion is hard — and critical. Translate. Go offline. Create space for people who don’t usually get invited.

📦 Procurement is broken — challenges are a workaround. They let cities test ideas before committing to buy or scale.

📈 A pilot is not the win. Think beyond the prize. If there’s no plan to embed or scale the solution, the challenge fails.

This new guide is clear: innovation isn’t the shiny idea, it’s the infrastructure you build to make new things possible.

Download the guide, search “accelerating sustainable urban futures”

To engage with UN-Habitat’s Innovation Unit, contact us at digitalhelpdeskforcities@un.org or unitac@un.org

Sumber:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/un-habitat-united-nation-human-settlements-programme-_practicalguideforchallenge-driveninnovationincitiesv4-activity-7315012576399036417-8qOK/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAtGGkQBsxwMBmX3lEJO8btihnfBCaHqTz4