‘Pitch Kitchener’ program looking for innovative solutions to city challenges

Today, in partnership with Communitech, the City of Kitchener launched ‘Pitch Kitchener’, a unique program that asks startups and vendors to help improve city service delivery with new and creative ideas.

Communitech is supporting Pitch Kitchener through their Fast Track Cities program, which connects Canadian tech founders with municipal partners to address pressing challenges. Communitech will work with vendors, providing focused exploration, coaching and feedback before pitches are presented to city staff at a Fast Track Cities Showcase on November 21.

“Pitch Kitchener was born out of the City’s ongoing work with the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership initiative, which provided select Kitchener staff with a top-notch learning opportunity focused on procurement innovation,” said Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “I regularly have heard from our innovation community about the challenges to engage with government early in the start-up and scale-up process. Pitch Kitchener will begin to address that, providing a unique way to advance our strategic goals, while better collaborating with startups to solve some of our city’s most pressing challenges.”

Kitchener has $100,000 in pilot funding available for vendors that offer innovative solutions to meet the following city challenges:

Challenge: Inspection of larger sanitary trunk sewer systems

Our Sanitary and Storm Utility division wants to obtain accurate condition reports for the inspection of larger sanitary trunk sewer systems within the City’s infrastructure. High flows, limited accessibility, and long inspection runs have made it difficult to collect clear CCTV footage, hindering our ability to assess the state of our sewer systems. Enhanced inspection equipment will enable us to inspect these systems with greater precision, ensuring they are effectively maintained for our residents.

Challenge: Autonomous technology to improve service delivery

We are looking for opportunities to improve efficiency and enhance service delivery across one or more of the city’s municipal service areas. Pitches could include improvements to operations such as grass cutting, road or sidewalk inspection, maintenance of equipment or parks, internal mail or delivery services, customer service enhancements, or other service challenges. Our goal is to pilot autonomous solutions that could improve City services and allow staff to provide a more focused customer experience while maintaining staff levels.

There is no cost to start-ups/vendors to pitch an idea. Proposals are open from September 12 – October 3, 2024. Once successful pitches are selected, City staff will meet with the successful vendors to finalize details like deliverables, duration and cost.

"Communitech is excited to collaborate with the City of Kitchener to connect Canadian tech startups with municipal partners to develop impactful solutions to daily operations," said Kevin Tuer, Chief Technology Officer at Communitech. "This collaborative approach creates an opportunity to drive change across our communities by harnessing the power of Canadian tech innovation."

Visit www.kitchener.ca/PitchKitchener or Communitech’s Call for Solutions page for more information.

For more information, contact:

Bethany Rowland
Director, Corporate Communications & Marketing
City of Kitchener   
Bethany.Rowland@kitchener.ca