Join us as we start a free, six-month guided program for local government leaders to find affordable and innovative solutions to their top Transportation & Mobility challenges!
The program is divided up into three months of challenge-development and three months of a pilot program. The program itself consists of a series of regular, one-on-one, hands-on meetings with program experts. Participants will benefit from a short curriculum of educational sessions on a range of innovation topics. In addition, all participants will benefit from the emergent outcomes of collaborative learning among a diverse set of state & local government cohort members.
Months 4-6 of the program bring together a group of startups able to answer the transportation and mobility challenges identified by government leaders in the first half fo the program. Those startups can then be selected to begin pilot programs with one or more of the local governments participating. Those startups will receive their own educational curriculum sessions and support from the CivStart Accelerator’s experts to provide full wraparound support for a successful pilot program.
Benefits
Through this program, government leaders can expect to:
- Learn about innovation, challenge-based procurement, and the latest in cutting-edge government technology
- Engage with other municipalities and peers to see how they are handling similar challenges
- Gain a practical understanding of their challenges through facilitated listening sessions and other resources
- Pilot an affordable and innovative solution to one or more of their top transportation & mobility challenges.
- Deploy new ways to procure innovative solutions. By the end of the program, government staff will be able to apply this method to other problems facing their communities.
This program is free for local governments.
The Program in Detail
- Phase 1: Listening Sessions & Education — In the first part of the program, our team will review strategic plans, engage in listening sessions with key agency staff, and gather research on community needs to guide the drafting of challenge statements. Program experts from e.republic, CivStart, and ELGL will provide education and facilitate collaborative learning among the cohort of government leaders.
- Phase 2: Startup Vetting & Support — As challenge statements are finalized, CivStart will publicize these challenges and identify, recruit, and vet the top startups that could potentially meet your challenge for you to review and demo. These startups are then brought into a short curriculum and support program conducted by the CivStart Accelerator, providing comprehensive support to maximize success on both sides of the upcoming pilot program.
- Phase 3: Pilot Project — Program experts will help you set up a successful free or low-cost pilot project from the beginning, with clear expectations, timelines, and deliverables.
- Post-Program: Case Study — Program experts work with the agency and startup to draft and publish a case study to highlight the city’s innovative approach to their challenges, their successes, and their lessons learned from the program.
What are some examples of transportation & mobility challenges that we are hearing about from cities?
- How can we electrify our government fleets?
- How can we support electrification of private vehicles in our area?
- Can we provide our sanitation and other fleets with better data, navigation, and workflows using new technologies?
- How can we better monitor the state of our road and bridge infrastructure?
- How can we better monitor and predict the environmental impacts and emissions of our projects?
- How can we better plan and respond to disasters like floods and hurricanes using technology?
- How can we improve our public transportation systems with better technology?
- How can we make technology improvements easy for those who aren’t tech-savvy?
- What are best practices for coordinating data collection and analysis across systems and sectors?
- How can we ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists using technology including pedestrian detection warning systems on trucks and buses and at busy intersections?
Cohort Dates
This cohort will take place over six months, with weekly meetings (45-60 minute educational sessions and 30-minute one-on-one meetings with program experts on alternating weeks) for the first half of the program. The program will run from March 2022 to July 2022.
*One-on-one meeting times will be flexible to participant schedules. Educational session times will all be at: 11:00am PT / 12:00am MT / 1:00pm CT / 2:00pm ET
Learn More From GovLove
Who Should Apply?
If you identify with the following, we want to work with you:
- A state, city, county, or special district leader.
- Head of department or top staff (i.e. executive office staff, city & county manager offices, transportation department leaders, etc.).
- No technical knowledge required, but a commitment to engaging with innovative government technology solutions is a must.
- Preliminary idea of some transit & mobility challenges faced by the local government that fall within the program focus area is helpful.
- Willingness and ability to consider a pilot project or fuller procurement with a startup to address these challenges is a must.
About Our Program Partners
CivStart
CivStart brings together innovative and affordable startup solutions, govtech experts, and public sector leaders focused on local government’s top challenges and how the latest innovations can meet the needs of their communities. We accomplish our mission in three broad ways: The Govtech Accelerator Program, Government Innovation Programs, and as an Innovation Hub.
e.Republic
Established in 1984, e.Republic is the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government. Led by Dennis McKenna, media entrepreneur and co-founder, our award-winning publications, websites, more than 150 annual events and highly respected research operations are acknowledged as setting the gold standard in their respective fields. Our work has been cited in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Time, The Washington Post and USA Today.