Giving Compass' Take:

• Bloomberg Philanthropies sponsors the Mayors Challenge that encourages cities to find innovative solutions to large-scale problems.

• How will this challenge strengthen cities all over the world? How can cities work together on global solutions outside of the Mayors Challenge? 

• Read more about the innovative solutions and the cities that came up with them.

Earlier this month, the European Commission named Athens, Greece, its annual capital of innovation, in part because of an online platform called SynAthina, which lets citizens and groups submit city-changing ideas and connect with the officials, nonprofits, or businesses that can help make them happen.

Around the same time, Guadalajara, Mexico, earned that country’s national transparency award for creatively battling corruption for an online platform called Visor Urbano, which allows business owners to submit permit requests and construction licenses through an automated processing system, and makes basic compliance information publicly accessible.

The commonality: All of these efforts were developed during past iterations of the Mayors Challenge, a multimillion-dollar competition run by Bloomberg Philanthropies that asks city leaders to submit bold solutions to a broader societal concern they’re facing. Bloomberg then funds the top projects with the idea that if they are successful, they’ll be adopted elsewhere.

Since 2013, Bloomberg Philanthropies has held four such competitions: The first was in the U.S., and helped jump-start Providence’s education program. The following time, it sourced ideas from Europe, then Latin America.

Given how well previous Mayors Challenge-supported ideas have fared, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ investment in city-generated ideas appears to be working. “We’re making some good bets and the cities are really proving out their innovations in a powerful way,” says James Anderson, Bloomberg’s head of government innovation.

This year’s Mayors Challenge was the largest ever, with 325 cities entering and a total of $17 million funding and support at stake. Unlike in previous competitions, however, Bloomberg Philanthropies got involved in coaching cities before they ever submitted their concepts.

Mayors in places of all sizes are increasingly confident that they can dream up the next city-based solution to a national or even worldwide problem. And they’re becoming ever more excited to involve their citizens early and often to get that right.

Read the full article about Mayors Challenge by Ben Paynter at Fast Company