The Sustainable Cities Challenge - Detroit is calling for innovators to enter with solutions that will meet the below Challenge Statement:

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

We will support innovators to develop 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 
• The opportunity to engage directly with city leaders 
• Connections to businesses in Eastern Market to understand their operations
• Access to city stakeholders including problem-holders, end users and beneficiaries  
• Access to a network of like-minded innovators. 

Entries to this Challenge are open from​ UTC 29 May 2024 and close by 16:00 UTC on 12 September 2024.

Entries will be assessed against the judging criteria and the successful semi-finalists will be announced in November 2024.  

After the semi-finalist stage comes to an end, successful finalists will be announced some time in May 2025.

Winners will be announced in early 2026. 

Below is a list of resources or other ways you can find out more about the Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit:

• Visit the main ​Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit webpage
• Read the entrant handbook
• Email us at [email protected]
• You can also sign up for a webinar or book a one-on-one session. For a full list of the support available, see the Entrant Support section on the Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit page. 

The Sustainable Cities Challenge is funded by the Toyota Mobility Foundation.

The implementation grant funding is available by stage of the Challenge as indicated below:

• Up to ten implementation $50,000 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
• The opportunity to engage directly with city leaders
• Access to various stakeholders, e.g. mobility providers.
• Access to a network of like-minded innovators 

All funding must be used by teams to develop, test, demonstrate, and implement their solutions.

The final implementation funding should be used to implement the solution. As part of their final submission, each finalist must put forward ideas for what this implementation would look like for their solution, with input and discussion with the Toyota Mobility Foundation. 

The Sustainable Cities Challenge is led and funded by the Toyota Mobility Foundation, in partnership with Challenge Works and  World Resources Institute. 

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) was established in August 2014 by the Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) to support the development of a more mobile society in which everyone can move freely.  

The Foundation underscores Toyota’s ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and respect for people. It utilizes Toyota’s expertise and technologies to support strong mobility systems while eliminating disparities in mobility. TMF works in partnership with universities, governments, non-profits, research institutions and other organizations, creating programs that are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address mobility issues around the world.  

In the past, TMF has led a range of Challenges, including the global Mobility Unlimited Challenge, CATCH in Malaysia and InoveMob Challenge in Brazil. You can find out more about TMF and how it is governed at toyotamobilityfoundation.org  

Challenge Works is a global leader in the design and delivery of open innovation challenges that mobilise diverse, innovative thinkers to solve pressing problems and unlock change. Founded by Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation for social good, Challenge Works is a social enterprise that has delivered over 90 challenges to date and distributed more than £156 million to winning innovators.

 https://challengeworks.org/  

World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research organization that works with governments, businesses, multilateral institutions and civil society groups to develop practical solutions that improve people’s lives and ensure nature can thrive. They organize our work around seven global challenges: Food, Forests, Water, Energy, Climate, the Ocean and Cities. They analyze these issues through the lenses of our four Centers of Excellence: Business, Economics, Finance and Equity. Visit them at wri.org

Detroit, Michigan, USA is known as the Motor City and has a heavy manufacturing and commercial freight industry. The city has reinvented itself after deindustrialization, and there are plenty of opportunities to continue this evolution and improve sustainable mobility. In areas such as the Eastern Market, a thriving food and cultural hub, the pollution and congestion from freight present an area of possible innovation.  

Only entries that meet the eligibility criteria can enter the Challenge.  

The Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit eligibility criteria:

• The solution must be designed specifically for and implemented within the city of Detroit.
• Entrants can be single organizations or consortia.  
• Teams that enter as a consortia must nominate one organization as the lead entrant. The lead entrant will enter into contracts and receive funding from Toyota Mobility Foundation.  
• Entrants must already be established as a legally incorporated organization to be selected for the next phase of the Challenge. 
• The Challenge is open to innovators worldwide, but entries must be in English.
• Successful entrants must be willing and able to travel to the city for which they are entering as there will be expectations for on-the-ground presence during the next stage of the Challenge.  
• Entrants must own or be licensed to use relevant intellectual property included in their entries. If your entry proposes a new idea, we expect that you will own all the resulting intellectual property, which may be registered on a local basis if you become a successful participant in the Challenge. The Challenge would not be able to give you specific legal advice on the protection or exploitation of intellectual property.

You need to fill out the online entry form before the entry deadline at 16:00 UTC on 12 September 2024.  

The online entry form is hosted on Submittable, a social impact platform used to collect submissions. You can access it here.  

Remember to read the ​​Entrant Handbook and Terms and Conditions before you submit your entry.  

The Sustainable Cities Challenge is being run in English. Only entries submitted in English will be eligible for the Challenge.

Yes, you can enter as a consortium or with a co-entrant. If you do enter as a consortium, you must nominate one organization as the lead entrant.  

The lead entrant will enter into contracts and receive funding from Toyota Mobility Foundation. 

Eligible entries will be evaluated against the Judging Criteria. Those that best meet the criteria will be invited to participate in the semi-finalist stage.

Yes, you can submit more than one entry to the Challenge. 

Entries to the Challenge will be confidential; however, they will be shared with those involved in running and assessing entries, including our delivery partners and the judging panel. Details of entries will be considered as part of our ongoing evaluation activities and may form evidence for future policy developments. No evidence published, following our evaluation, will be attributable to individual entries or entrants.  

If you are successful in being selected to participate in the Challenge, one of the conditions of accepting support (both financial and non-financial) will include publicity of your initiative. 

Please review the full Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy for full details.  

Entrants ​must ​own ​or ​have ​written ​permission ​to ​use, ​the ​intellectual ​property ​relevant to ​their ​entry. ​All entrants ​need ​to ​demonstrate ​a ​willingness ​to ​share ​information ​about their ​solution ​for ​the ​purposes ​of ​the ​Challenge. As ​part ​of ​the ​Challenge, the Toyota Mobility Foundation, the City of Detroit, Challenge Works, and other ​​partners ​intend to ​carry ​out ​publicity ​activities and ​publish ​reports ​about ​the ​insights ​gained through ​the ​Challenge. ​These ​activities ​will ​not ​divulge ​confidential ​intellectual ​property.  

You can email us at [email protected].

You can also sign up for a webinar or book a one-to-one session. For a full list of the support available, see the Entrant Support section on the Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit page.  

This FAQ page relates to the Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit.  

However, there are three different city Challenges under the Sustainable Cities Challenge. Each of them is focused on their specific city and has a completely different mobility-related challenge. 

They are:  

1. The Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit  – Transforming Freight  

• The Detroit Challenge is calling on  innovators to demonstrate solutions that reduce fossil fuel use and cut costs of freight operations in Eastern Market. 
• Entries to this Challenge are open from 29 May 2024 and close by 16:00 UTC on Monday 12 September 2024.

• You can visit the  Sustainable Cities Challenge Detroit page here. 

   

2. The Sustainable Cities Challenge Venice  – Embracing Sustainable Mobility  

• The Venice Challenge is calling on innovators to create solutions that change behavior, increasing the use and adoption of existing low and zero-carbon transport modes in the city of Venice. 
• Entries to this Challenge are open from Tuesday 11 June 2024 and close by 12:00 UTC on Monday 30 September 2024. 
• You can visit the Venice Challenge page here.  

3. The Sustainable Cities Challenge Varanasi –  Innovating Crowd Flow  

• The Varanasi Challenge is calling on innovators to create data-driven solutions that make crowded areas of Varanasi’s old city (Kashi) safer and more accessible.
• Entries to this Challenge are open from Thursday 27 June 2024  and close by 13:00 UTC on Thursday 5 September 2024 
• You can visit the Varanasi Challenge page here.

Yes, you can make an entry to all three City Challenges. However, you will likely not be selected for more than one City Challenge unless you demonstrate the capacity to work on two Challenges at the same time.

We’d love to hear from you! Please send us an email us at [email protected]. 

You can find all the information available to entrants in the entrant handbook. 

Other specific data is not available at this time. However, a package of relevant data will be available to innovators by the time the semi-finalist stage begins.

We also encourage you to schedule a one-to-one call or sign up for an informational webinar, to ask us questions.  

Freight operators in the Eastern Market are not primarily concerned with pollutants, especially in terms of health. Their main concern is the expansion of the market. One key pain point is that margins are very thin, so innovation can be problematic if it adds costs and further impacts profitability.

During the semi-final period, you will not need to implement your solution. Instead, you should focus on refining and adapting your solution before demonstrating and piloting it.

Due to data protection laws, we cannot share contact details. However, if you email us indicating that you are happy for us to share your contact details with anyone else interested in partnering, we can connect you with other interested parties. 

No, we care about impact against the judging criteria and also consider the Eastern Market operators and their needs. 

Yes, the 10 semi-finalists will have the opportunity to connect and collaborate during the next phase as finalists. Additionally, an Innovator Academy will be hosted. 

Detroit offers support for regulatory concerns and has facilities to assist with these issues. However, support will be handled on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific concerns and needs. Please schedule a 1:1 call or email us with your questions for more detailed assistance. 

Yes, you can save your entry as you work on it and submit it when you are ready. However, we recommend that you always keep a back-up of your entry offline to ensure you do not lose your entry in case of any technical issues.  

Yes, you can change ownership of the entry form on Submittable. You can find guidance on how to do that here: https://submittable.help/en/articles/9655256-transfer-submission-ownership-for-submitters 

No, you do not.

Logistics management is in place, but the flow of vehicles into specific spaces is not centrally controlled. There is no granular, top-down mechanism managing this process. Solutions addressing this level of logistics management would require significant buy-in from market operators.

Multiple markets operate simultaneously at the same location. For example, a restaurant vendor can make a single stop to get what they need.

The public market is held on Saturdays, Sundays, and Tuesdays. There is a diary and scheduling system in place for this. The space and vendors for the public markets differ from those used at other times, as they require more space and accommodate additional vendors.

Logistics operations staff at the market are familiar with the procedures. For example, Shed 7 has refrigeration facilities, and they monitor market throughput. 

The Eastern Market partnership aims to evolve and improve without disrupting current operations.

Starting small and scalable is preferred.

Most trucks are diesel Class 8 vehicles that distribute goods throughout the city. There is limited infrastructure for electric vehicles, though there are fast chargers available, depending on the scale. No Class 8 electric vehicles have been used yet. The cold temperatures in Detroit pose a challenge for EVs, but they may be suitable for short runs to restaurants. The city is exploring both hydrogen and electric vehicles as alternatives.

Yes, companies from the around the world can participate without needing a partner from Detroit or the U.S. During the semi-finalist stage, you can explore what’s needed to establish your business in the U.S. Detroit is open to innovative ideas from around the world. 

Currently, there is no centralized management for the markets; they operate independently. Freight operators coordinate directly with shed operators and the Eastern Market Partnership to determine where they can distribute their goods. However, the Eastern Market Partnership doesn't have a fully coordinated agreement with all vendors, meaning each entity largely manages its own operations. 

As long as you're achieving the contractual obligations for the sustainable cities challenge. And if you happen to be, generating revenue at the same time. 

They are owned and operated by the vendors or contracted leasing through a couple of larger Lessing organizations. There is no central management or ground traffic control. 

We're helping by facilitating connections between Detroit and various stakeholders, but not directly brokering partnerships. Currently, we're gathering publicly available and vendor data to identify key data points needed for future collaboration. The exact data required will depend on the partnerships formed and their specific needs.