GeniUS! York is a social and inclusive initiative that harbors the creativity of its community. Due to a downturn in the economy, City York Council needed a way to deliver economically sustainable local services, environmental support and care to its citizens. In order to generate ideas, the local government engaged its residents and brought the community together as a whole to develop promising solutions. By enabling the city of York to take ownership of the challenges it faces through the open innovation platform, GeniUS!, countless transformative programmes and technological improvements have been implemented – many of which the council, standing along, would have been incapable of delivering. Many successful technological pilot projects have been launched as a direct result of GeniUS!, including the Tele-care programme; an assistive technology service that detects health issues in elderly residences, allowing them to remain independent but safe in the knowledge that help is available. Through the EU URBACT programme, GeniUS! now allows great minds from all over the world to collaborate and develop together with the aim of not only building strong futures for their local residents, but that of worldwide community.