I had the opportunity to sit down with San Francisco Chief Information Officer Chris Vein during sf.govfresh and ask him about his work around open government, open data and government innovation. What resonates most with me is how he touches on the importance of a partnership between mayor and CIO and SF Mayor Gavin Newsom’s willingness to let him ‘fail forward.’

We’d see more government innovation if leaders were like Newsom and let their staff experiment with technology, especially open source and free Web-based tools where the cost to taxpayers is minimal at best.

Here’s the full interview: