Building a National Innovation Directorate for the Municipal Sector

The Challenge

MoMAH sought to build a full innovation directorate from the ground up — with governance, experimentation mechanisms, capability development, and partnerships — to drive systematic innovation across 17 municipal domains.

Our Approach

• Designed the operating model: roles, responsibilities, talent profiles, innovation processes, and funding mechanisms.
• Built the governance system defining decision rights, KPIs, ideation funnels, and approval pathways.
• Developed innovation tracks covering service improvement, digitalization, sustainability, and regulatory innovation.
• Created the ecosystem framework, engaging academia, startups, municipalities, and private operators.
• Deployed the capability uplift model: training, toolkits, templates, and playbooks.

Results & Impact

• Directorate fully operational, with 6 innovation tracks launched within the first cycle.
• Enabled structured collaboration with 22 partners, including municipalities & tech firms.
• Decision velocity improved through 4 governance forums.
• Clear execution capacity established, enabling scaling across the municipal ecosystem.