This past Tuesday, the City of San Francisco announced the winners of its ImproveSF.org open innovation campaign. Winners were honored at a private event which took place on June 1st with Mayor Newsom where he spoke about the budget and highlighted that two of the winning ideas  will save the city more than $90,000 annually.
 

The ImproveSF.org program served as a tool for the City to encourage and collect ideas from its employees. In a matter of weeks, there were 700 active participants, 4,000 votes, and nearly 700 comments. Of the 569 total ideas submitted, 4 were chosen for immediate implementation. Many others are under review for possible savings or revenues.

Winning ideas included:

• Eliminating Hold Music, for which the city pays over $900 per month.
• Reducing Washing of Municipal Vehicles, for which the city pays $75,000 per year.
• Allowing 311 to take credit card payments for selling City & MUNI Merchandise.
• Auctioning Surplus and/or Unwanted Property and Vehicles.

"ImproveSF.org tapped into the knowledge and experience of our city employees to help solve some of our most critical financial issues," said Mayor Newsom. "The initiative and the winning ideas are part of a larger story on how government in partnership with its employees can encourage innovation."

Read the full annoucement HERE.

For more information check out another recent Blog Post and the original Press Release. 

See below for photos from Tuesday's Event: