Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit

​​We are calling on innovators to:

Demonstrate solutions that reduce fossil fuel use and cut costs of freight operations in Eastern Market

Solutions should address one or more of the following:

1. Reduce idling time
2. Reduce partial loads and empty miles
3. Reduce reliance on fossil fuel for cold chain logistics and freight management
4. Reduce implementation costs and barriers to adopting clean freight technologies 

Innovator Funding

We will support innovators in developing their solutions by providing:

• Up to ten $50,000 implementation grants in the semi-finalist stage
• Up to five $130,000 implementation grants in the finalist stage
• $1.5 million final implementation funding, to be shared among up to 3 winners 
• Connections to businesses in Eastern Market to understand their operations
• Facilitation to engage directly with city leaders
• Capacity building support  
• Access to a network of like-minded innovators

All funding must be used by teams to develop, test and demonstrate their solutions for Detroit’s Eastern Market, with the final funding to be used for implementation in Eastern Market.

Why Detroit’s Eastern Market?

Detroit’s Eastern Market is the largest open-air market and amongst the oldest historic markets in the U.S. and is at the heart of Detroit’s Challenge. It is the city’s hub for food distribution, selling over $360 million of wholesale food annually, and double that in exports. The district is poised to expand and is considering strategies to address environmental concerns, carbon emissions, and pollution, while adding residential units to this bustling community. It organizes farmers, wholesalers, distributors, and logistics operators into distribution activities designed to move food that feeds millions.

Eastern Market neighborhood is continuing to expand as a market and as a mixed-use district. A key challenge of its growth strategy is to harmonize food production and distribution increases with clean freight initiatives. 

This will safeguard the health of Eastern Market residents, workers, and visitors while reducing fossil fuel costs of freight operators.

Detroit is seeking innovators who can demonstrate impact through solutions that achieve three key objectives:

1. Innovators must show that their solutions add value to the freight ecosystem.
2. Innovators must demonstrate that their solutions can be integrated without adding significant costs.
3. Innovators must ensure that their solutions are easy to adopt and use by freight operators and Eastern Market.

About the City of Detroit's Office of Mobility Innovation (OMI):

The Office of Mobility Innovation (OMI) exists to help the City of Detroit navigate the rapidly changing transportation and mobility industries in partnership with the automotive industry to support clean and equitable mobility solutions. Transportation and mobility are essential for both people and businesses and Detroit’s automotive heritage provides an unparalleled opportunity to work with industry to innovate and define their future.