Page 12 - UKZN MIMI Report 2025

MIMI measures innovation maturity in municipalities through three constructs:
• Construct A: Enablers of Innovation, which assesses the institutional and environmental conditions that facilitate innovation;
• Construct B: Management Support for Innovation, which captures the extent to which leadership and managerial practices promote and sustain innovation; and
• Construct C: Individual Innovation Behaviour, which measures the innovation- related actions and attitudes of individual municipal officials.
From the above constructs, MIMI is computed and ranks municipalities based on 6 Innovation Maturity Levels (Table 1):
Table 1. MIMI Maturity Levels
LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 5
LEVEL 6
Limited
Defined
Applied
Managed
Entrenched
Shared learnings
Limited, if any, awareness or evidence of innovation on the part of individual officials or the organisation.
Innovation is defined. Officials understand innovation principles and innovation strategies are in place, but there is little, if any evidence of innovation.
Innovation is applied. There is evidence of implementation in certain departments of the municipality. Innovation is repeatable, but irregular.
Innovation
is managed, Innovation occurs on an on-going basis and processes in relation to this are managed well in the municipality.
Innovation principles and practice are entrenched throughout the municipality. Innovation officials seek to optimise and evaluate solutions and improve on these continuously for internal benefit.
Innovation
is open and outward looking. New knowledge is applied creatively, based on evidence, in different contexts and shared with others outside of the organisation.
4. METHODOLOGY
4.1 Recruiting of municipalities
The 2024–2025 wave of MIMI targeted all municipalities for participation. With the support of SALGA and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), the UKZN research team compiled a comprehensive database containing the contact details of all municipalities in South Africa. This database included information for municipal managers, personal assistants, and heads of departments. Emails with invitations to participate in the MIMI survey, along with detailed information about the study and its objectives, were sent to these officials. Follow-ups in the form of emails and phone calls took place to encourage municipalities to participate.
The team also attended various events organised by municipalities and other stakeholders that are working in the local government sphere to market MIMI and recruit municipalities to participate.
To effectively recruit municipal officials for the implementation testing, the team agreed on an approach to identify the gatekeepers or innovation champions within municipalities. Municipal innovation champions are regarded as individuals who oversee and coordinate the municipal innovation journey. The innovation champions would be the contact person within each municipality, who would promote communication between the municipal officials
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MUNICIPAL INNOVATION MATURITY INDEX (MIMI)