Projectskeyboard_arrow_rightUsing Collective Intelligence to Solve Public Problems Using Collective Intelligence to Solve Public Problems
How can institutions use technology to solve problems with groups?
Description
The GovLab and Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence Design conducted three dozen interviews with public officials, platform creators and community managers to gather hard evidence of what does and does not work when using collective intelligence. We studied 30 examples from around the world in order to identify what is involved in using and institutionalising collective intelligence successfully. Drawing on this body of original research, we explain how to make collective intelligence an efficient mechanism for improving governance. Throughout the research report and case studies we illustrate how collective intelligence can be used to solve different kinds of problems, and can involve the use of different methods and tools. The cases span a wide range of topic areas from sustainability to transportation and include local, regional, national and international perspectives from six continents. The tools include everything from simple mobile applications for opinion gathering to more complex data analysis tools that use artificial intelligence. The methods range from completely digital consultations to in-person deliberations, and everything in between. Ten of the case studies cover projects that have attained institutionalisation, meaning that they have achieved longevity, survived a change in political administration or achieved success at scale.
Anyone with the desire to innovate within a bureaucracy can use collective intelligence to improve the way that public institutions function, and this report and the accompanying practical guide and case studies provide guidance for how to do so, when and under what circumstances.
Results & Impact
The report, entitled Using Collective Intelligence to Solve Public Problems, examined global examples of how public institutions are using new technology to take advantage of the collective action and collective wisdom of people in their communities and around the world to address problems like climate change, loneliness and natural disaster response. The GovLab has also published thirty case studies to show how leaders have designed the most successful projects. These include Lakewood, Colorado, whose Sustainable Neighborhoods Program has engaged more than 20,000 residents in running 500 sustainability events and projects. SynAthina from Athens, Greece is a platform where 443 civic groups have posted 4,050 activities, enabling residents to collectively revitalize their city. Founded in Kenya in 2007 as an election monitoring tool, Ushahidi (Swahili for “Testimony”) has been used for 150,000 “crowdmapping” projects to rescue victims from the Haitian earthquake in 2010, prevent forest fires in Italy and Russia, and crowdsource incidents of sexual harassment in Egypt, among other campaigns in 160 countries.
