The Technology and Innovation Department (TID) is dedicated to empowering the Long Beach community by solving technology challenges and improving residents' lives. Here, you will find our latest accomplishments, including initiatives to advance digital equity, partnerships to enhance data analysis capacity, and efforts to support the city's homelessness emergency. Our team is committed to using technology to improve Long Beach, and we are thrilled to share our achievements with you.
Technology and Innovation Accomplishments
- Earned the first place "Digital City" award by the Center for Digital Government, marking the thirteenth year recognized as a leading digital city and the third year in a row as the top Digital City in our population category.
- Recognized as a 2023 Visionary Digital Inclusion Trailblazer by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA).
- Part of the first City cohort developing Racial Equity Action Plans.
- Established the TID Power Hour, a monthly gathering to promote learning and usage of the City's low code/no code tools, enabling a more tech-savvy and self-sufficient learning organization.
- The Long Beach Data Learning Community membership grew by 39 percent. This community is a learning forum for City staff to gain skills in data literacy, data analysis, and collaboration technology.
- The Digital Inclusion Resources Hotline responded to 359 inquiries. Re-convened the 80-person multidisciplinary Digital Inclusion Stakeholder Implementation Committee to implement critical strategies from the Digital Inclusion Roadmap and prepared a Digital Inclusion Implementation Plan.
- Completed the Long Beach Collaboratory (LB Co-Lab), a first-of-its-kind immersive technology program for residents to design and deploy technologies in their neighborhood and gain career skills to find tech jobs. Twenty-seven community members representing four neighborhoods participated in the program, received nearly 40 hours of technology learning, and each received a $1,000 stipend for their contributions.
- Launched four technology pilot projects sourced through the LB Co-Lab to address community-identified needs in four neighborhoods: Willmore, Westside, Hamilton, and Ramona Park.
- Received 48 pitches from vendors through Pitch Long Beach!, a Smart City Initiative program that allows vendors to pitch an idea for a project directly to the City. Ideas that offered promising solutions to legitimate City needs were shared with Department subject matter experts, evaluated with transparent criteria, and considered as potential pilot projects. Eleven percent of submissions come from businesses based in Long Beach.
- Facilitated implementation of five technology pilot projects procured through the Smart Cities Challenge – a challenge-based procurement program to implement technology pilot project solutions for identified City needs.
- Published a research report titled, 'Understanding the Tech Equity Gap in Long Beach,' which analyzed the demographic makeup of Long Beach's aerospace and technology workforce.
- Enabled secure customer and community access to City information and Services.
- Continued to refine and update the homelessness dashboard to provide information about people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach and services provided by City departments to prevent and respond to homelessness.
- The “Go Long Beach” application processed over 25,000 requests from October 2023 to June 2024
- Completed the second phase of the new One Call City Hall system that makes all City of Long Beach non-emergency services reachable through a single phone number, (562) 570-5000. This project improves access to City services for Long Beach residents, businesses, and visitors
- Deployed an enhanced Digital Rights Platform signage and webpage that aims to inform the public about the City's use of over 20 smart technologies and the data collection and usage practices for each
- Published the Long Beach Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) Interim Guidance, which provides principles, best practices, and use cases for staff using Gen AI tools to enhance productivity
- Piloted digital service accessibility solutions such as a single sign-on portal and an AI-based chatbot
- Enhanced the existing online portal by adding new permit application types, allowing the public to apply and pay for permits online
- Continued to provide substantial support for the Homelessness Response initiative, including a new website, live weekly updates, and specialized video segments by LBTV.
- Produced 549 video segments by LBTV, including LIVE coverage of community-driven events, public service announcements, department-driven videos, important press conferences, and ribbon cuttings
- Deployed numerous tools to improve cybersecurity capabilities and reduce risk exposure
- Improved operational efficiency by deploying Robotic Process Automation for managing routine/repeatable tasks
- Enabled digital transformation through numerous electronic forms and workflow leveraging the City's existing technology investments.
- Established an enterprise data warehouse as a significant first step towards modernizing and enhancing the City's data analytics program.
- Aided the Long Beach Fire Department to procure, configure, integrate, and deploy a digital fire prevention tool
- Made significant progress towards modernizing and hardening crucial data pipelines about public safety needs
- Upgraded the City's financial system to the newest version to improve performance and take advantage of new functionality
- Upgraded the meter data management system used by Utilities to enhance operational efficiency and improve reporting capabilities
- Upgraded the City's audit management system to improve workflow management
- Redesigned the Renewable Energy/Solar Permit process to comply with new state law requirements and simplify the online application process, allowing customers to apply and pay for solar panel, battery, and car charger installations online
- Completed a pilot of LinkedIn Talent - a suite of tools and services specifically designed to help organizations find, attract, and hire top talent, improving the City's recruitment efforts
- Launched a new virtual appointment service for meeting with Building and Safety staff, allowing customers to save time and travel. Integrated the City's queue management and collaboration systems to enable easy online scheduling of appointments.
