Cities including Austin, Texas; Detroit, and San Jose, California, are among the first members of new program that recruits research universities to solve community challenges.

San Francisco city procurement officials are experimenting with a new chatbot for internal use that is expected to clarify one of government’s most confusing processes. After a soft launch on Jan. 1, the Office of Contract Administration is now honing a digital assistant designed for use by workers across the city-county government who want to buy IT products, but aren’t sure how. Her name is PAIGE. She speaks with a…

Organizers are now setting their sights on economies of scale as the program grows.