Innovation Commission outlines Mayor’s Innovation Fund, pilot projects and metrics for evaluation

John Merritt, president of the Innovation and Performance Commission, gave a verbal presentation to the Government Efficiency Innovation and Audits Committee on Feb. 21 about the Mayor’s Innovation Fund and the commission’s work soliciting and vetting staff ideas for pilot projects.

Merritt said the fund is a roughly $1 million annual appropriation in the city’s regular budget that provides short‑term funding for pilot programs proposed by city employees, commissioners and neighborhood councils. The fund’s purpose is to test ideas that could save money, increase productivity or improve services; the commission emphasizes feasibility and measurable outcomes.

Merritt said the commission has received over 800 submissions since it began and that it deliberately keeps the submission form simple so line‑level city employees without budgeting expertise can propose ideas. He described the commission’s vetting process: submissions go to the innovation fund subcommittee for initial review, then to the full Commission for a funding recommendation, and then through the committee and City Council transmittal process if approved.

Merritt listed examples of funded pilots that the commission contends produced savings or operational benefits: a nurse practitioner unit embedded with LAFD EMTs that reduced hospital “wall time” and yielded substantial savings in staff hours and costs; a virtual‑recruitment tool for LAPD that uses 3‑D goggles for candidates at job fairs; and early solar street‑light pilot projects. Merritt said the commission has approved 12 submissions in backlog totaling about $2 million, with individual requests ranging from about $60,000 to $350,000, and that most or all of those will be presented to the committee in March.

When asked how the commission measures projected savings, Merritt said the commission encourages departments to estimate savings and that, when a project is funded and proceeds through the council, departments are asked to report back at six‑ and 12‑month intervals with progress and actual savings information.

Committee members stressed that the fund should not be used as a substitute for regular budget requests and said they value the fund’s role in surfacing line‑level ideas. Merritt said the commission aims to prioritize innovations that are feasible and measurable and to avoid projects that should instead be placed in departmental budget requests.

Merritt closed by noting the commission’s outreach limits — a small staff of one within the Mayor’s Office of the Chief Executive Office — and by pointing committee members to the commission’s website (innovateLA.lacity.gov) and a CityView recording of its 2023 awards ceremony. He said the commission expects most of the 12 approved submissions to be ready for the committee’s March meeting.