Coming Soon - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

Coming Soon fosters small & medium business creation across Jerusalem through an innovative means of connecting entrepreneurs with the real needs of the residents. Through innovative crowd-sourcing platform, we asks vast numbers of Jerusalemites what businesses are missing in their neighborhoods. This data is then shared with entrepreneurs, who receive a package of government-subsidized training and incentives to help them build a sustainable businesses based on what Jerusalemites actually needs.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

In Israel, 50% of businesses close within 5 years of opening. In a study we conducted we discovered three reasons that contribute to this:

1) Entrepreneurs don’t sufficiently understand what the market needs;

2) Entrepreneurs are not sufficiently adept at running a business;

3) Entrepreneurs aren’t equipped to deal with government bureaucracy at the national or local level.

We created Coming Soon, which is a digital crowd sourcing platform that was accompanied by a broad public campaign, to ask Jerusalemites themselves what new businesses they need in the neighborhoods where they live and work. More than 15,000 Jerusalemites participated through our smart platform, which asked a series of questions and allowed users to offer their own ideas, providing more than 100,000 insights. This data was then offered to entrepreneurs interested in creating or growing businesses in Jerusalem, and was accompanied by a tailor-made package for each entrepreneur that included consultation, training, and assistance in navigating governmental bureaucracy.

The direct beneficiaries of this initiative are the entrepreneurs for whom this initiative meaningfully improves their chances for success. Additionally, Jerusalemites from neighborhoods across the city get the services they are currently lacking.

Regarding the future of this project and scaling, Israel’s Ministry of Economics is interested in bringing Coming Soon to other cities around Israel.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

The Jerusalem Municipality typically plays a regulatory role vis-à-vis businesses and entrepreneurs in the city. In this case, the Municipality stepped out of its comfort zone to proactively advance business development.

What is the current status of your innovation?

The project is currently close to completing implementation. The crowd-sourced data has been gathered, processed and disseminated, and entrepreneurs have begun accessing the information, as well as participating in trainings, consultations, etc. The city of Beer Sheva is currently adapting Coming Soon to fit its needs. The platform exists in multiple languages and can therefore be adapted in many places around the world.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

The Office of Digital Israel, which provided funding and technical knowledge.
The Maof Agency for Small &Medium Businesses and Economics Ministry, which are in charge of creating incentive packages for entrepreneurs, including consultation, training and navigating government bureaucracy.
The Business Development Department, Jerusalem Municipality, which assisted with regulatory processes at the local and national level.
More than 15,000 residents who participated in the crowd-sourcing platform.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

Jerusalem residents were able to communicate their needs to entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs were able to get a better understanding of their local market, as well as a tailored package intended to help them start or expand their businesses successfully. The Jerusalem Municipality and participating government agencies were able to foster new business creation and business expansion, a key priority. growing fast and supporting the Local economy and increasing the GDP.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

More than 15,000 residents participated in the crowd-sourcing platform; several hundred entrepreneurs attended the Coming Soon conference, which introduced the project to them and showed them how to take advantage of it; 478 entrepreneurs have signed up for the tailor-made business development packages, which include training, consultation and help in navigating governmental bureaucracy. Businesses have started to open. In addition, many entrepreneurs decided not to open a particular business following their consultation with Coming Soon, as they realized their idea didn’t fit the needs of the market. We see that as success, as well.
In addition, the project increased the discussion regarding small and medium business in the public and more important among official decision-makers, it seems like the officials and the public are looking with more intention about the needs of small businesses and they all agree how it's important to buy local.

Challenges and Failures

Jerusalem is a highly diverse city, comprised of vastly different communities, including two communities who are particularly challenging to engage: the ultra-orthodox (many of whom do not use computers or internet), and Palestinian Arabs (many of whom are hesitant to participate in any project affiliated with the Jerusalem Municipality or an Israeli organization). To deal with this challenge, we adapted the platform to each community in terms of language and culture. In addition, we worked with trusted intermediaries from within the different communities to understand how to approach residents in a way that they would see as trustworthy.

Conditions for Success

The most important condition for a complex innovation such as this is the willingness by diverse individuals and agencies to collaborate and cooperate for the benefit of all. In a government setting, this cooperation cannot be taken for granted. Coming Soon required collaboration between local government, national government, community organizations, entrepreneurs and residents of vastly disparate backgrounds.

Replication

Coming Soon has already been adopted by the Beer Sheva Municipality and has been embraced by the Ministry of Economics, which plans to scale it to several additional cities around Israel. As the platform exists in several languages, it could easily be adopted beyond the borders of Israel to other cities around the world.

Lessons Learned

The great power of the wisdom of the masses.
Planning and identifying the exact need of two unparallel communities (public, entrepreneurs and business owners) and finding the technological tool that will connect their needs and aspirations.
Technology is just a tool and in order to succeed you have to harness a lot of people and organizations who want to cooperate and make it happen.