The city of Syracuse recently partnered with the San Francisco-based program Startup in Residence and will soon consider proposals from tech companies to solve issues related to waste disposal, crime and housing stability in central New York.

Syracuse and STIR’s 25 other government partners will review applications to develop and test the proposed solutions over a four-month residency program that begins in January. The program closed submissions on Nov. 14.

Adria Finch, director of innovation for Syracuse, said the city hopes to increase permit transparency and gather data on garbage and debris collection. Other proposals involve creating an application for a Trauma Response Team — which would inform the community of a violent crime and provide options for support —and another to increase housing stability by addressing the 21-day limit for property owners to handle security deposits to renters.

“This is problematic for the low-income renters in Syracuse, who oftentimes rely on that security deposit to put down on the next place that they want to move to,” Finch said.

The city wants to pioneer a platform similar to Kiva.org, which lets renters crowdfund an interest-free loan for a security deposit, according to Syracuse.com. City officials were also considering a proposal for snow-plowing robots, but the proposal did not receive any applicants, Finch said.

First, STIR works for two months with various local, state and federal governments to identify problems in the community it is working with, said Jay Nath, the co-creator of STIR and a director at City Innovate, which now manages the program.

In Syracuse, this process involved discussing technological solutions to existing problems with department heads, Finch said. She then reviewed the problems with Mayor Ben Walsh, which resulted in an initial list of about 10 problems the city is aiming to tackle. From there, five challenges were chosen for tech companies to address in their proposals, she said.

Once challenges are established, the problems are shared with entrepreneurs and innovators around the world, Nath said.

A request for proposals was sent out in early October, and applications will be reviewed this week by a committee of five people selected by Walsh, Finch said. The final selected group of tech companies and startups will be decided by the second week of December, she said.

“Hopefully we will end up with four finalists, one for the four problems that we received,” she said.

Governments and startups collaborate through a residency program that involves first creating a project plan, Nath said.

From there, they work together over four months to understand the issue through media research, then design, build and test a solution. The goal is to have a working solution for each local problem, Nath said. If achieved, the final stage of the program involves negotiating a contract for the project.

“Our role during that whole process is to facilitate and make sure everything’s moving forward,” he said.

Nath created STIR in 2014 with then-San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. Nath (D-C.A.), who was the city’s chief innovation officer at the time, said they created the program with the idea that local communities face challenges that are complex and difficult to address.”

“Our communities have so much talent in them, whether it’s Syracuse (or) San Francisco,” Nath said.

Syracuse joined STIR in summer 2017, Finch said. Cities applying to the program must have a commitment to solving problems within the community, Nath said. Other factors include prioritizing innovation and working with the community.

Finch said joining the program was a way to leverage outside help to get additional work done. She hopes this partnership will ultimately help create a better quality of life in Syracuse, she added.

“We have more problems than we actually have the time to solve,” she said.

Published on November 27, 2018 at 10:05 pm

Contact Emma: esfolts@syr.edu