Sascha Haselmayer was a Public Interest Technology Fellow at New America. As a social entrepreneur he has led urban innovation, economic development, and government innovation projects in over 40 countries. He trained as an architect at the Architectural Association in London and is a globally recognized expert on urban and local government innovation.
In 2011, Haselmayer founded Citymart, an organization that transformed expectations and practices of public procurement by reliably introducing civic engagement, diversity, problem-solving, and innovation into a core bureaucratic process. Under his leadership, Citymart implemented innovative procurement practices in 135 cities in 35 countries that led to better community outcomes and connected 30,000 creative small, social, and disadvantaged businesses to participate in government contracting.
Prior to Citymart, he founded businesses and organizations that pioneered inclusive urban innovation districts and civic service innovation in cities through a global network of living labs and advising governments, investors, and universities in Europe and Asia.
Haselmayer’s contributions on urban and civic innovation, smart cities, economic development, and public procurement innovation in cities have been recognized through an Ashoka Fellowship. He advocates for change as a keynote speaker at global convenings and lecturing at institutions like the London School of Economics Cities Programme and Chicago University Booth School of Business. He has authored two books on service and procurement innovation in cities and has served as a trusted adviser to organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Aspen Institute and served on the selection committee of the Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge and the Advisory Board of the UN Global Compact Cities Programme.