The Exchange NW Civic Innovation Challenge Working Session

The Civic Innovation Challenge brings together startups, public agencies and community partners to design and test practical solutions to real civic needs.

The Exchange Northwest anticipates awarding 4-6 recipients in the second event. The Challenge is open to individuals, teams, start-ups and businesses. Participants must be at least 18 years of age and authorized to sign a contract on behalf of themselves or their company. A key benefit for participants is the opportunity to co-design solutions directly with a government or education partner.

The City of Bellevue, King County Information Technology (KCIT), Washington Technology Solutions (WaTech), and Bellevue College value this opportunity to support early-stage civic startups and innovation ideas. Civic design partner staff gain insight from collaborating with companies and people pushing the envelope of innovation and helping to shape future civic products.

The Civic Innovation Challenge pilot projects bring together small groups of civic design partners and participants to validate a solution in real workflows, gather feedback and determine readiness through a timebound Proof-of-Concept phase. Civic design partners and participants can expect light weekly engagement, open communication and meaningful influence on the final product.

Participant Benefits

• Coaching and mentoring from seasoned entrepreneurs, advisors and investors.
• Civic design partnership with City of Bellevue, KCIT, WaTech, and/or Bellevue College staff to help test, optimize and/or refine a product or service.
• Opportunity to showcase solutions for a civic tech audience and build relationships across the innovation ecosystem.
• Between $15,000 and $45,000 stipend. Stipends will depend on the complexity of the solution, whether they are applicable to more than one government or education partner and maturity of the product. Most solutions will likely receive a stipend at the lower end of the scale from a participating design partner public agency.

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