The City of Phoenix established the Office of Innovation in late 2021 with the appointment of Michael Hammett as the Chief Innovation Officer. The Office of Innovation is the central hub for innovation, performance management, and the strategic use of data across the city. The office identifies national and local grants, technical-support opportunities to address city priorities, and partners with departments to co-create pilot initiatives to reimagine existing city processes and services, and implement new ideas to solve pressing city issues. The Office leads the City Manager’s Performance Dashboard, Valley Benchmark Cities, the Innovate PHX Challenge @ Venture Café events and the Bloomberg Philanthropies, What Works Cities and Smart Cities initiatives.​