Miami-Dade Innovation Authority

MDIA has launched its eighth Public Innovation Challenge, creating new opportunities for innovators to collaborate with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) on solutions to critical infrastructure needs.

Developed in partnership with WASD, the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Managemnt, and Florida International University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the challenge focuses on identifying technologies that can be tested and evaluated in real-world operating environments.

Through its challenge model, MDIA helps connect public-sector priorities with emerging technologies, enabling faster testing, validation, and pathways to implementation.

Applications are open through July 15, 2026.

MDIA continues to bring together leaders across industries whose perspectives help shape more forward-thinking and collaborative public systems. Today, we highlight Fred Castonguay of Ports America, whose work and experience reflect the importance of operational efficiency and cross-sector collaboration.

In this reflection, Fred emphasizes the value of combining public sector leadership with private sector support to help new ideas gain traction and move toward implementation. His perspective reinforces the role innovation plays in strengthening how cities operate and adapt to evolving challenges.

Fred also highlights an important point about MDIA’s work: helping people better understand the broader role local government can play in driving innovation and shaping the future of Miami-Dade County. Through initiatives that connect public challenges with innovative solutions, MDIA continues to create space for collaboration, experimentation, and long-term impact.

Learn more about MDIA’s work at https://www.mdia.miami

Advancing public-sector innovation often requires collaboration across government, research institutions, and technical experts working toward shared operational goals.

Through MDIA Challenge No. 8, Florida International University’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering contributes research-informed perspectives and engineering expertise connected to infrastructure, environmental systems, and emerging technologies.

The collaboration reflects the value of bringing academic insight into conversations around implementation, operations, and long-term infrastructure planning. By connecting institutional knowledge with public-sector priorities, partnerships like this help support more informed approaches to future-ready water and sewer operations across Miami-Dade County.

As MDIA continues convening innovators, public agencies, and academic institutions, these collaborations help strengthen the broader ecosystem supporting responsible testing and evaluation of new technologies in real-world environments.

Cover image from Florida International University Webpage.

Applying to a public-sector innovation challenge often comes with questions about eligibility, pilot readiness, funding, and how the process works in practice.

Through the upcoming information session for MDIA Challenge No. 8, participants will have the opportunity to better understand how MDIA works with innovators to evaluate solutions that can be tested in real operational environments alongside public-sector partners.

The challenge is designed for companies with technologies or systems that are beyond the idea stage and ready for implementation, validation, and collaboration within complex infrastructure settings. This includes solutions focused on operational efficiency, predictive systems, resource recovery, and infrastructure modernization across water and sewer operations.

The session will also provide additional context on how MDIA supports selected companies throughout the pilot process and how public innovation challenges can help bridge emerging technologies with institutional needs and long-term community impact.

Applications close Wednesday, July 15, 2026.

As public infrastructure systems face increasing operational and environmental demands, it is increasingly important to identify technologies that support more resilient, efficient, and forward-looking approaches to water and sewer management.

Through Challenge No. 8, MDIA continues its model of connecting public-sector priorities with innovators capable of testing practical solutions in real operating environments. The challenge reflects a broader effort to explore how emerging technologies, data systems, and resource recovery approaches can support long-term infrastructure performance across Miami-Dade County.

Developed in collaboration with Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD), Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM), and Florida International University (FIU), the initiative creates an opportunity for innovators to better understand public-sector needs while contributing to operational innovation with measurable community impact.

Innovators, startups, researchers, and organizations interested in the challenge are encouraged to attend the upcoming information session to learn more about the pilot framework and application process.

Register through link in bio.

Public excellence offers a more practical way to define and evaluate government performance. Unlike the concept of public good, which is broad and aspirational, public excellence introduces a clearer standard rooted in how services are experienced and how systems deliver in practice.

At the center of this framework are two essential dimensions: experience and ex*****on. Experience assesses whether public services reflect how people actually live and interact with systems. Ex*****on assesses whether those systems operate effectively, move with intention, and produce measurable outcomes over time.

Together, these ideas help shift the conversation from principle alone to performance in action.

This perspective is drawn from When the Public Good Isn’t Good Enough: How Defining Public Excellence Improves Government Effectiveness by Leigh-Ann Buchanan, President and CEO of MDIA. Visit mdia.miami/impact to see how MDIA is helping governments test, validate, and advance solutions that improve quality of life.

MDIA’s Public Innovation Challenge No. 8, Optimizing Water Operations in Miami-Dade County, is focused on identifying technology-driven solutions that can be piloted within one of the largest and most complex water and wastewater systems in the United States.

Through this challenge, early-to-growth-stage companies are invited to apply with solutions ready to be tested in a real-world operational environment, in collaboration with Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD), the Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) and Florida International University(FIU) Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Selected companies will receive a $100,000 investment to support pilot implementation, testing, and validation.

This challenge is designed to surface solutions that can strengthen water and sewer operations across areas such as resource recovery, infrastructure performance, predictive operations, asset management, and data-driven system planning.

Applications open May 19.

Apply through the link in bio.