Big City, Big Ideas: Data Innovation and City Governance

Worldwide, city governments are increasingly playing an active role in supporting economic growth. At the same time, they are under pressure to respond more quickly and individually to the needs of citizens. Rapid developments in digital innovation and in the availability and application of large-scale data sets create opportunities both for new economic activities and jobs, and for new and cheaper ways of delivering city services. They also hold out possibilities for new ways that governments can engage with citizens, while at the same time raising concerns about data privacy. In his talk, Mark Kleinman looked look at how these issues are being addressed in both London (UK) and Toronto, two cities with strong 'knowledge economy' characteristics which are also growing rapidly.