firsttime

CAPITAL
CITY PILOTS

EDMONTON'S
INNOVATION CHALLENGE


Home-grown solutions for local and global impact

SEE OPEN CHALLENGES

ABOUT
CAPITAL CITY PILOTS 

The Capital City Pilots project, led by Edmonton Unlimited in partnership with the City of Edmonton, calls on entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to answer a series of local and global challenges presented by the City. Pilots from this project will provide pilot-ready solutions to improve City operations, benefiting the City’s community, and growing the region’s innovative ecosystem.

Capital City Pilots opens the opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop pilot-ready projects, build valuable case studies, and gain practical knowledge to assist them in furthering their ideas and their companies to be investment ready. This approach creates more investable companies in Edmonton, attracts more global investors and talent, and brings innovative solutions within City Hall, Parks, and the Edmonton Public realm. 

people at the office

THE PROCESS

  1. magnifying glass iconExploration

    Capital City Pilots program works with the City of Edmonton to define challenges for the municipality. These may be critical pain points in need of solutions or simply areas for new innovative ideas. 

  2. megaphone iconEngagement

    Once a challenge has been defined by the City of Edmonton, Capital City Pilots launches the challenge(s) to the innovation community and offer the opportunity to submit their solution. 

  3. paper and a pen iconSubmission

    Innovators and entrepreneurs are invited to submit their solutions to the Innovation Challenge. From there, the submitted solutions are then evaluated and selected by a review panel of industry and academic experts.

  4. clock iconEvaluation

    Capital City Pilots will work with finalists and/or winners to develop a statement of work (deliverables) and supports the development of their proof-of-concepts within a set timeframe.

  5. rocket iconPilot Launch

    A final winner is selected to begin implementation of their solution and receive additional guidance and asset/resource support from the City of Edmonton to further develop their challenge-based solution.

Is there a challenge that your innovation solves?

Apply to Open Challenges

SEE OPEN CHALLENGES

BENEFITS

star icon for brand recognition in benefits section

Working Directly with the City

Gain a deep understanding of the City as a customer. Benefit from the exposure to the municipal processes and constraints to better position your product when going to market.

graphic for market analysis icon for working with the city in benefits section

Business Development

Validate your technology in a real-world environment. Add a powerful case study to your marketing materials. Use the learnings to scale your solution into adjacent industries.

padlock icon for access to ecosystem partners in benefits section

Expert Support System

Access 100+ hours of free one-on-one industry-specific business support to realize a pilot successfully and reach your next growth milestones.

briefcase icon for business development in benefits section

Brand recognition

Establishing a strong and recognizable brand presence to help founders stand out from their competitors, and build trust, credibility, and familiarity among their target audience.

headphone icon for support system in benefits section

Access to Ecosystem Partners

Leverage  the opportunity to acquire new partners and customers. Get connected to industry and ecosystem partners.

headphone icon for support system in benefits section

Innovate City Hall

Collaborate with the City through pilot-ready solutions to enhance and push processes to the forefront of cutting-edge innovation.

headphone icon for support system in benefits section

Innovation in the Public Eye

Highlight and celebrate the groundbreaking ideas, inventions, and accomplishments of home grown talent tobuild civic pride and inspires others to pursue their own endeavors.

headphone icon for support system in benefits section

Case Studies

Build case studies to serve as real-world examples that demonstrate the value, impact and success of founders pilot-ready solutions to attract customers and investment.  

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Capital City Pilots is an exciting procurement experiment, in collaboration with Edmonton Unlimited and the City of Edmonton, that calls for startups to test their pilot-ready IP and generate a flagship demonstration project, to take to the world. With Capital City Pilots, you'll have the chance to interact with key stakeholders and City innovators. Plus, you'll get the incredible opportunity to tap into the City's abundant resources, data, and assets, enabling you to finetune and validate your innovation in a real-world environment and gain an invaluable case study for your investment-ready enterprise.

This program is funded over three years by the Government of Alberta and Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan), with support from key project partner City of Edmonton.

Stay connected with all Capital City Pilots updates and new challenges by creating a profile on the challenge platform or by signing up for our Capital City Pilots newsletter. We regularly unveil new challenges that need YOUR ground-breaking solutions!


With Capital City Pilots, you'll have the chance to:

  • Finetune and validate your innovation in a real-world environment
  • Build compelling case studies and testimonials to attract potential investors and customers alike
  • Interact with key stakeholders and City innovators
  • Tap into the City's abundant resources, data, and assets
  • Highlight your innovation in the public eye and celebrate the tangible impact on our community
  • And much more!

This exciting procurement experiment invites all startups with pilot-ready IPs to put their solutions to the test. Participating in this program will require certain readiness criteria specific to the innovation challenge that must be met to pilot a solution with the City.

If you are unsure if your innovative solution is eligible for Capital City Pilots, please contact us at capitalcitypilots@edmontonunlimited.com, and someone from our team will connect with you directly on clear next steps.

The pilot will enable successful participants to collaborate with key stakeholders, gain exclusive access to City staff and resources to refine their innovations in a real-world setting and build compelling case studies and testimonials, to attract potential investors and customers alike.

Startups will also receive up to 100 hours of free, one on one, industry-specific business support to help their business grow. Experts on Demand allows Edmonton’s tech-enabled founders to hire fractional expertise at no cost.

We continuously work with relevant teams in the City of Edmonton to uncover and describe current and anticipated municipal challenges. Through our Challenge Discovery workshops with the City, we discover, identify and present the challenges that will be most impactful for the innovation community to address with their solutions

 

In partnership with the City of Edmonton, we are committed to releasing an extensive lineup of over 30 challenges until 2025. Innovators like you will have many opportunities to showcase your talents and make a tangible difference in our City.

Our goal is to have 3-5 open challenges available at any given time, ensuring a steady flow of exciting opportunities for startups. Stay connected with us to be the first to know about new challenges by creating a profile on the challenge platform or by signing up for our Capital City Pilots newsletter.

We host information and Q&A webinars in partnership with the City sponsoring department leading up to challenge submission deadlines. This is a great opportunity to have your questions directly answered. Learn registration details about these sessions by signing up for our newsletter, registering on our platform, or visiting challenge pages.

Yes! Explore multiple challenges and showcase the versatility of your solution! If your solution has the potential to address multiple challenges, we encourage innovators to submit their innovations to one or more relevant innovation challenges they'd like to address. Our challenges are designed to be wide and diverse, allowing for cross-pollination of ideas and fostering a collaborative ecosystem.

Yes. Each challenge will define its own goals and specific assessment criteria based on the applicable City department or branch considerations. Find more information through the handbooks provided within the “Additional Reference Information’ section on the individual challenge you are interested in.

Create a profile by clicking on the 'Sign Up' button located in the top right corner of our website. Once you have your profile set up, navigate to the specific challenge page that you're interested in to find submission instructions and a dedicated submission form.

Be sure to provide all the necessary information to showcase the potential of your innovation.

The submission window and timeline will be unique per challenge and displayed clearly on each challenge page.


The duration of the selection process may vary depending on the specific challenge. Details regarding challenge durations and submission deadlines are clearly communicated on the individual challenge pages.

Once the application deadline has passed, you can track the progress of your application through the status progress bar, which will be updated on the individual challenge page.