Giving Compass' Take:

• To address city-wide issues such as affordable housing and traffic problems, San Antonio started a research and development league to embrace and encourage innovative solutions. 

• How could donors contribute ideas and funding to a research and development program?  

• Here are five tips for donors supporting social sector R&D. 

San Antonio created a new research and development program, the R&D League, to advise the city on new ideas and provide tools for making data-driven, equitable decisions that benefit all residents.

The group chose six initial projects to focus on, including an interactive mapping tool to track affordable housing intervention; data collection from sensors on city vehicles; and artificial intelligence applied to the city's existing traffic camera feeds.  The group is a partnership with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

R&D is a term commonly used in the private sector that refers to product development innovation. The term is used less frequently in the public sector, but when it is applied, it often refers to service delivery. Upgrades tend to happen incrementally instead of launching all at once.

The chosen R&D League projects were whittled down from a pool of more than 30. The city developed the concepts by establishing its own objectives, pulling information from survey data and engaging with the community and partners, Kate Kinnison, San Antonio's R&D administrator, told Smart Cities Dive.

Some details about how the program will operate and be evaluated are fluid. But the program also intends to determine long-term processes and evaluation measures for the R&D League based on successes from the initial phase, with room for tweaking and adjustments along the way.

By taking a public-private partnership approach, the city recognizes that it can learn and improve by bringing in outside expertise. Additional partners could be added to the R&D League as the program advances.

Read the full article about research and development league by Katie Pyzyk at Smart Cities Dive.