Impact
We curated this dynamic impact hub to be more than a standard report and to share much than just numbers. We’ve designed this space to offer an in-depth look into the stories and insights gleaned from MDIA’s journey to build the first public innovation authority in the United States.
Explore these key learnings through data, comprehensive analysis, practice tips and a video series featuring our municipal partners and portfolio companies.
Challenges
Explore Insights
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A New Model to Fast Track Procurement
Unlocking the Blueprint for Public Innovation
Municipalities are on the front lines of the most pressing challenges of our time—from climate resilience and mobility to digital transformation and economic inclusion. Yet too often, public institutions lack the infrastructure, flexibility, and pathways necessary to engage emerging technology as a solution.
However, bureaucratic constraints, process chokepoints, rigid procurement norms, and fragmented internal innovation ecosystems stall progress—often leaving large swaths of communities underserved and urgent problems unsolved.
We created MDIA to disrupt this cycle.
We do so by bridging systemic gaps between public need and private innovation, unlocking new pathways for local government to act as a catalytic customer of cutting edge solutions to the most pressing issues.
Our approach uses pilot-based open innovation challenges to de-risk procurement by fast-tracking the discovery, testing, and rapid adoption of market-ready technologies into local government.
MDIA transforms how municipalities pilot, procure, and scale emerging technology
We’ve laid the groundwork to do things differently—building trust and partnership with government, changing internal culture, identifying chokepoints and shifting structural impediments to rapidly testing emerging technology solutions in real world settings.
Snapshot
Challenges
Public Innovation Challenges Yield a 67% Decrease in Procurement Time to Pilot
Since inception, MDIA has reduced the time to pilot by two-thirds, from 18 months to in most instances moving from challenge launch to pilot demonstration within 6 months.
MDIA’s approach doesn’t just save time. It reduces costs, lightens the administrative burden on civil servants, and enables public agencies to rapidly assess whether a new solution meets their needs—before committing valuable resources.
Miami-Dade County, for example, committed $3M to fund winning company to pilot innovative solutions responsive to pressing public challenges, with a target of supporting 30 pilots over a three year period.
In less than two years, through Six Public Innovation Challenges, MDIA has spearheaded 15 unique pilots in collaboration with major County departments—including Miami International Airport, PortMiami, the Division of Environmental Resource Management, Department of Solid Waste Manage, and the Department of Transportation.
Sargassum Challenge
Airport Challenge
Port Challenge
Transportation Challenge
Solid Waste Challenge
Solutions
Collectively, these companies represent more than $6.5 billion in revenue, $2 billion raised, and over 44,000 employees. On average, MDIA’s challenges receive 87 applications— a response rate that is17x higher than the average RFP. This traction exemplifies how, when compared to the typical RFP process, MDIA exponentially increases the number of scalable solutions sourced from the private market by using open innovation challenges to cast a much wider net.
Public Innovation Challenges attracted 440 startups and at a response rate 17x higher than the average RFP.
Features
Features in news publications like Bloomberg, Government Technology, along with case studies from Harvard Business School, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, plus receiving the 2024 Innovation Award from International Economic Development Council collectively demonstrate that MDIA’s novel approach is gaining traction and national recognition.
Insights
“We’re inviting the private sector to join us as we unlock more streamlined, more cost-effective solutions to big public sector problems. With pilot programs and an openness to creative solutions, we are flipping the way government does business by inviting businesses to pilot their innovations with us.
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We’re building a replicable blueprint that redefines how public innovation accelerates outcomes and unlocks the local government’s untapped potential to commercialize innovation that improves quality of life in cities.
Transforming Bureaucracy in Innovation Breakthroughs
Redefining Public Innovation
Cities aren’t just service providers. They are the frontlines of human need. MDIA reframes public innovation from a buzzword to an urgent civic mandate. By embedding pilot-based problem solving into public systems, MDIA transforms government from a gatekeeper into a launchpad—empowering departments to tackle entrenched challenges with speed, flexibility, and shared accountability.
Improving Efficiency More Effectively
Prioritizing Outcomes, Not Just Ideas
Public innovation isn’t valuable unless it moves the needle. It requires more than sourcing novel solutions and technology; it’s about removing friction and driving efficiency. MDIA fast tracks procurement from years to months, streamlines stakeholder alignment, and lifts the administrative burden off both startups and civil servants. The result? Cities can match real problems with proven solutions faster—saving time, taxpayer dollars, and public trust.
Catalyzing a Culture of Innovation
Centering Leaders Who Drive Internal Change
Culture drives capacity. Innovation doesn’t begin with tools; it begins with trust, urgency, and teams that believe change is possible. MDIA builds that culture by centering frontline leaders, breaking silos, and offering a clear, energized process that makes innovation a shared mission rather than an isolated task. For cities ready to shift from inertia to impact, this people-first approach is the foundation.
Building Innovation Infrastructure
De-Risking Innovation For Cities
Innovation is not self-executing. And, government was never designed to take risks. That’s the crux of the problem. MDIA provides the missing infrastructure cities need to test new technologies safely, scale them responsibly, and align incentives across departments. From policy scaffolding to procurement pathways, MDIA enables municipalities to move from reactive problem management to proactive opportunity capture—without sacrificing compliance or credibility.
The MDIA Way
A Model to Fast Track Procurement
MDIA is not a consultancy. It’s a systems-change infrastructure built for cities that want more than pilots; they want permanence. For example, in Miami-Dade County, we’ve helped cut procurement cycle times by more than 67%, reducing the time to pilot from 18 months to 6 months or less. Through challenge-based procurement, risk-sharing capital, and embedded implementation support, MDIA levels the playing field for small innovators while helping governments act big and bold. For mayors and city managers, it’s a turnkey engine to scale what works.
