Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Smart Cities Dive, Alex Ryan explains how a switch from a disruptive to a sustainable innovation model can make cities more digital and equitable.

· With our rising reliance on technology, how can we ensure that the digital world is used in an ethical and inclusive way?

· Check out this model for driving sustainable economic growth. 

As the world urbanizes, the rapid growth of cities is presenting a host of modern challenges unprecedented in their intensity and interconnectedness — from climate change and mass migration to congestion and unaffordable housing. In response, many cities are betting big on digital innovation.

The question arises: How can cities be both digital and equitable? We need to shift from disruptive innovation to inclusive innovation – but it seems the disruptive model is still the baseline.

Here are five steps I'd like to see cities around the world take to make innovation work for everyone.

1. Put citizens at the center
Public legitimacy is the critical currency for city-building. Witness the recent withdrawal of Amazon's bid to build a second headquarters in New York amid protests, or the #BlockSidewalk movement, which was born out of frustration with the Sidewalk Labs public engagement process in Toronto.

2. Design for inclusive growth
While more urban innovation often equals more inequality, a few cities have flipped this relationship to achieve inclusive growth.

3. Ensure trusted data sharing
Cities are becoming smarter and more responsive to the needs of residents and visitors. This creates potential for everyone to benefit from better services and improved quality of life.

4. Experiment with regulations
Regulation nearly always lags behind innovation, sometimes by years. It takes time for a new technology's effects to be studied, for regulatory change to become a political priority, for new regulations to be passed and for enforcement agencies to police the new landscape.

5. Collaborate to innovate
Some innovation missions require a new model of collaboration that goes beyond a conventional public-private partnership. When developers, governments and nonprofits jointly invest in civic assets, the new value created can have wide benefits.

Read the full article about driving sustainable innovation by Alex Ryan at Smart Cities Dive.