Every city has its own unique set of complex issues, and a single challenge fund or competition will not be able to solve all of them. One strength of the method is that it can spark a new or increased focus on a certain problem area, and thus can crowdsource actors and stakeholders into the space to pull other levers and ultimately shape policy development and emerging industries.
While a challenge or mission focuses on one problem (or a fund made up of challenges each focusing on one problem), these fit into a bigger picture and can often help to unlock broader activity. Picking that mission/focus/topic is therefore important and needs to be done carefully, in consultation with all the right actors.
For example, in Flying High, we fostered collaboration among cities, technologists, government, the CAA, the NHS, fire and emergency services, TfL and many others, to answer the question of if and how drones could be used in cities to transport urgent medical products or respond to emergency events. The outcome was an alignment among a broad group of organisations that might ordinarily never have a reason to cross paths.
Challenges that cut across sectors and government agencies offer a platform for actors within and outside government to develop system demonstrators, a way to bring together a portfolio of innovations to achieve multiple, large-scale and transformative outcomes. The Climate Smart Cities Challenge will be doing just this with the four cities participating in the challenge in 2023.