Experimenting with innovation.

• Author: Knutson, Kevin
• Position: Solutions

Many cities are looking for new ways to be resilient in the face of changing conditions. One option is to use an innovation fund to invest in experimental approaches.

In the early 1940s, Lockheed Martin created a special unit called the Lockheed Advanced Development Program, which eventually became better known by its nickname, the "Skunk Works." Breakthrough technologies were urgently needed to address swiftly changing requirements and to test new ideas for the U.S. military, so the program was designed to avoid bureaucratic obstacles. By focusing on rapid prototyping and field testing, new ideas could be developed and implemented in a short timeframe. The first project, a new fighter jet designated the XP-80, was designed and built in an astonishing 143 days.

Since then, the skunk works concept has been used in business and engineering to build programs that have permission to experiment and try out new approaches. These programs exist to work on advanced projects and disruptive technologies. Many cities--including Baltimore, Maryland; Portland, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Los Angeles, California--have developed a similar approach, establishing innovation offices and funds to identify, finance, and implement experiments designed to test new ideas and approaches. These programs are the local government version of skunk works, where experimentation is encouraged and supported.

WHY EXPERIMENT?

Because of the constant pressure to use tax dollars as prudently as possible, new programs or services are sometimes considered risky. Therefore, agencies might tend to pursue only the approaches that have been proven again and again, missing opportunities to use new technologies or take bold action.

By definition, an experiment is designed to test a hypothesis, so failure is always a possible outcome. Openly acknowledging this gives staff the freedom to risk failure and learn from the experiment. Another way of looking at it is that, whatever its outcome, an experiment is always a success. If the program works as expected, the government has a new way to address a public problem. If not, the program is stopped and the government has avoided a major investment in a program that doesn't work.

To manage the risk involved in new programs or services, governments might consider treating them as experiments, funding the program provisionally and at a reduced scale until they are proven effective. Of course, an experiment is not...