Page 86 - UKZN MIMI Report 2025

CITY OF uMHLATHuzE LOCAL MuNICIPALITY
MuNICIPAL INNOVATION MATuRITY INDEX (MIMI) REPORT JuNE 2025
1. Introduction
MIMI is an information and decision tool for assessing the capabilities of municipalities to support innovation for improved service delivery. It focuses on the capabilities of municipalities and their officials to learn and implement innovation towards improving service delivery. By participating in MIMI, municipal officials carry out self-assessment on enablers of innovation management support for innovation and individual innovation behaviour. This report provides feedback/ on the analysis of the state of innovation maturity for City of uMhlathuze Local Municipality against the MIMI indicators and index. Furthermore, it provides recommendations for improvement. The data was drawn 2024-2025 MIMI participation.
2. background
MIMI is a decision support tool designed to measure municipalities’ innovation capabilities, practices, and readiness to adopt innovation(s) to improve the delivery of basic services. The tool measures the capabilities of individual employees and municipalities to learn, implement, adopt, and institutionalise innovations that can improve the delivery of basic services. It assesses and benchmarks the Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) readiness level of municipalities. MIMI can be used to determine the innovation maturity levels of municipalities, identify areas of improvement in adopting innovative practices, and provide insights for municipalities to plan for innovation to migrate to higher levels of innovation maturity.
The desired outcomes of MIMI are:
• to embed MIMI as a local government sector-wide instrument to assess the capacity of municipalities
• to innovate and produce periodic municipal innovation practices reports;
• to create awareness about the innovation capacity and innovation performance of municipalities;
• to introduce MIMI as a credible and accessible instrument with maximum support for use as a tool by municipal
sector stakeholders to encourage and benchmark innovation in municipalities;
• to position the use of innovation assessment data as a process to inspire innovation practices and the adoption of
innovation in municipalities, and
• encourage municipalities to plan, invest, and implement innovation in their business process to deliver value and
fulfil their mandates.
3. MIMI framework and maturity levels
MIMI measures innovation maturity in municipalities through three constructs:
• Construct A: Municipal enablers of innovation. This looks at factors such as innovation linked strategies, resource allocation and organizational culture.
• Construct B: Management support for innovation, the extent to which municipal leaders promote and champion innovation.
• Construct C: Individual innovation behaviour, the capacity of municipal officials to engage in innovative practices.
From the above constructs, the MIMI index is computed and ranks municipalities based on 6 Innovation Maturity Levels. (Table 1)
Table 67. 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
in 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 context and shared with others outside of the organisation.
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MUNICIPAL INNOVATION MATURITY INDEX (MIMI)