# Toronto is getting an i-team

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2017-01-14

bloomberg, bloomberg-philanthropies, canada, cities, city-grant, i-team, innovation-team, innovation-team-program, toronto, uncategorized, urbanism

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Bloomberg Philanthropies runs a program called Innovation Teams (also called i-teams). It is one of their approaches to [driving innovation within cities](https://www.bloomberg.org/program/government-innovation/innovation-teams/#overview). What they do is provide grant funds to cities in order to help them assemble a local “i-team”, which they will fund for up to 3 years. 

They, like me, believe that cities are uniquely positioned to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. So the teams essentially function as in-house (in-city?) innovation consultants, using an approach that relies heavily on research and data.

Here are some of the successes they’ve had so far (excerpt taken from [here](https://www.bloomberg.org/program/government-innovation/innovation-teams/#progress)):

> _“In New Orleans the i-team helped the city reduce its murder rate by 20% in less than two years. In just sixteen months, Memphis’ i-team leveraged the approach to fill 53% of the empty storefronts in key commercial tracts of the city, giving hope to small business owners and reinvigorating the city’s core. Mayors in pioneer cities successfully deployed their i-teams to decrease homelessness, reduce youth violence, and stimulate economic growth, and these i-teams continue to be re-deployed to solve new and pressing problems.”_

Because of these early successes, the program is expanding. Their [latest round of funding](http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2017/01/giving-cities-room-to-experiment-and-innovate/512909/?utm_source=SFFB) will bring i-teams to Durham, Baltimore, Austin, Detroit, Anchorage, Be’er Sheva (Israel), and Toronto. This will be the first i-team in Canada. And I am excited to see what they are able to accomplish.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/toronto-is-getting-an-i-team)*