Public Innovators Network Summit Signals New Momentum For Baltimore Innovation

Johns Hopkins convened the inaugural Public Innovators Network Summit in October, drawing roughly 155 practitioners from 84 cities across 15 countries to discuss how local governments can embed innovation into everyday operations. Summit participants emphasized building portfolios of complementary projects that mix quick wins with long term transformation, centering youth in co creation and policymaking, and sustaining innovation through changes in administration.

Baltimore was a named example at the summit, with its i team, the Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation, cited for running youth co creation labs and piloting a Driver’s License Academy prototype. Officials reported that the prototype boosted police onboarding by standardizing training pathways and reducing administrative friction during recruitment and early service. Those operational gains are intended to translate into more consistent public safety interactions and clearer lines of accountability for residents.

Practitioners at the summit shared case studies from Philadelphia, Seattle, Reykjavik and Guatemala City that underscored varying approaches to institutionalizing innovation. Common themes included creating measurable portfolios that balance immediate resident needs with multi year reforms, training staff to sustain project momentum regardless of political turnover, and using youth partnerships to surface priorities that reflect emerging community concerns.

For Baltimore residents the summit’s takeaways matter in concrete ways. Portfolio approaches can deliver incremental service improvements while preserving capacity for broader reforms. Youth co creation labs expand civic engagement by giving younger residents a formal role in designing programs that affect schools, transit and public safety. Efforts to sustain innovation across administrations aim to reduce policy whiplash that can accompany election cycles, protecting investments in data systems and program evaluation.

The network continues to expand, offering peer learning and practical tools for local government innovators. For Baltimore policymakers the challenge now is to convert summit ideas into codified practices that survive leadership changes, scale successful prototypes and maintain transparent measures of impact. Civic participation by young people and consistent institutional support will be central to whether those priorities change how city government performs for residents.