The City of Oslo launches innovation team to drive progress on key local challenges from circular construction to urban resilience
Oslo is one of 18 new municipalities to join the international i-team initiative, which has reached over 100 cities across 16 countries and 4 continents - representing more than 100 million residents.
(Oslo, Norway) – (29/09/2025)
The City of Oslo today announced the launch of a municipal Innovation Team (i-team). The i-team, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, will help city officials and civic partners design and implement solutions that meet pressing local challenges. The i-team will expertly deploy data, collect insight, and collaborate across sectors—crowding the energy and resources across Oslo—to develop resident-centered interventions that improve people’s lives. The i-team will receive technical assistance from regional and global specialists, and benefit from learnings from peers in city halls across the region and around the world.
The i-team, consisting of dedicated staff, will focus on developing interventions to advance circular construction—building homes, offices, or roads with materials can be reused, recycled, or repurposed—and societal security and urban resilience, thereby enhancing city’s preparedness against immediate crises and more long-term systemic vulnerabilities. The i-team will also create a new framework to spread and enshrine innovation practices across different agencies and departments, helping to establish these new ways of working citywide. Hired by the municipality, the i-team, will report directly into Governing Mayor Eirik Lae Solberg, ensuring it is positioned to move efficiently and get results.
“This support from Bloomberg Philanthropies to establish an i-team—and learn from international peers in other cities—will directly strengthen our municipality’s ability to develop solutions that directly benefit our residents,” said Governing Mayor of Oslo Eirik Lae Solberg.
National and global policies increasingly depend on local progress – and in recent years, municipalities have served as intermediaries for infrastructure, recovery, and more. To seize their potential, local governments require access to the talent and tools that will help them solve problems across departments, harness data and emerging technology, and bring resident needs into the heart of policymaking and program design.
In Europe, this is particularly acute: more than 60 percent of mayors surveyed by Eurocities report that capacity to implement cutting-edge solutions is a top strategy to achieve their priorities – though most lack what they need to solve challenges currently at hand.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies i-team program, part of the organization’s Government Innovation portfolio, provides municipalities funding and expertise to establish a multidisciplinary, mission-minded unit that meets this need.
“Realizing efficient, effective government is an inside job—and the Innovation Teams we support around the world are critical to building that engine within the city halls they serve,” said James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“We are glad to expand this model to 18 new municipal teams in Europe, who will join the growing number of public officials working locally, creatively, and ambitiously to break down silos, break through problems, and deliver results residents see and feel.”
To date, the Bloomberg Philanthropies i-team initiative has reached over 100 cities across 16 countries and four continents—representing more than 100 million residents—and inspired hundreds of other local governments to embrace innovation systems and practices.
Oslo is one of 18 new European municipalities selected to participate in the initiative, which includes eight countries and represents 25 million residents. These new i-teams will focus on issues ranging from fortifying disaster response to reducing youth poverty to lowering household energy burden and will be in: Brussels, Belgium; Zagreb, Croatia; Helsinki, Finland; Turku, Finland; Vantaa, Finland; Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany; Leipzig, Germany; Mannheim, Germany; Oslo, Norway; Madrid, Spain; Valencia, Spain; Zaragoza, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden; Edinburgh, UK; North East Combined Authority, UK; Liverpool City Region, UK; Greater Manchester Combined Authority, UK; and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, UK.
About Bloomberg Philanthropies
Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on creating lasting change in five key areas: the Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health.
Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy that advises cities around the world. In 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $3.7 billion.
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Media Contact
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Sam Fuld
Email: sam@bloomberg.org
Oslo Municipality
Lars Barreto Dønvold-Myhre
Email: lars.barreto.donvold@byr.oslo.kommune.no