The City of Cape Town is piloting a resident-dedicated online portal for ideas and information-sharing.
Called the Collaboration Platform, the city says the portal is an opportunity for it to interact with the public and source innovative ideas from a wide range of stakeholders in Cape Town.
In addition, the city says it envisions the platform to be an online idea management system, where residents can share ideas about specific challenges the city is facing, or make contributions about opportunities within the city.
“We have launched the Collaboration Platform as a pilot project and encourage members of the public to participate via the portal. We hope that over the course of the next few months, the true potential of this platform will be realised,” says Sharon Cottle, mayoral committee member for corporate services.
“We are very excited about how this initiative will empower our communities to help shape the future of Cape Town and we look forward to receiving innovative ideas from our residents.”
The portal, according to a city statement, is open to the public to share and contribute in terms of the city’s challenges and track how their ideas are prioritised. The city will assign moderators to each of the active topics.
Cottle adds: “Our main aim with this platform is to facilitate creative problem-solving so that we can make optimal use of limited resources, and to further enhance our decision-making.”
In the statement, the city says a team within the organisational effectiveness and innovation department will manage the platform and facilitate the idea submission process with an innovation forum within the city.
The ideas will be assessed by subject matter experts based on a specified set of criteria to utilise the ideas with the most potential. Those who come forward with innovative ideas will receive notifications as their submissions move through the different stages.
Registered members will also be able to interact on the platform by commenting on, and voting for, the ideas submitted by others.
To participate and access the Collaboration Platform, members of the public are requested to register via the city’s Web site. Residents are also encouraged to regularly log onto the platform and check for announcements around new challenges.
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