CITM Innovation Challenges
Do you have a tech solution for the future of transportation?
If you’re an innovative startup or SME with a solution for a new era of smart, sustainable transportation — we want to hear from you!
The CITM Innovation Challenges program brings together industry, technology and innovation partners to solve the most pressing real-world transportation problems. Challenge winners will have access to pilots, in-kind and/or monetary funding, rich tech talent, resources, and other game-changing opportunities.
Learn more about our recent challenges and partners, and stay tuned for our next round of challenges.

Meet the Innovation Challenge partners!

Nokia

Nokia
Nokia is CITM’s intelligent communications infrastructure solution program partner, providing access to the NDAC 5G wireless platform and data marketplace. NDAC 5G is a high-performance, end-to-end private wireless networking and edge computing platform.

Naryant

Naryant
Naryant, a data analytics powerhouse, will support the analytics process and provide supplementary datasets.

GEOTAB ITS

GEOTAB ITS
Geotab ITS provides aggregate commercial transportation analytics via its Altitude platform.

Hamilton Community Enterprises

Hamilton Community Enterprises
HCE connects and powers Hamilton and other communities in bold new ways that accelerate them towards a smart, sustainable future. Engineering, implementation and operation of integrated, resilient, underlining data and energy critical network technologies.

Road Runner Prime Logistics

Road Runner Prime Logistics
Road Runner Prime Logistics offers emergency expedite service of repair parts for machinery breakdowns where “time and money” are of the essence.
Your ticket to new opportunities
CITM Innovation Challenges open the door to new partners, ideas, approaches and other benefits for your business.

Leverage partner resources, products & technology platforms

Pilot your tech with partner R&D teams, customers & ecosystems

Find new investment & grant opportunities

Discover faster or alternative paths to market

Get exposure through our marketing showcase & other channels
Smart Transportation Network + DataStor
Test your tech solutions and tap into rich datasets in Ontario’s first live, multi-site 5G R&D network and comprehensive data repository.
INNOVATION CHALLENGES
Multimodal freight solutions
CITM and our partners Nokia and Inovex are looking for innovative multi-modal freight tracking solutions, freight management solutions (particularly those requiring or benefitting from 5G connectivity, leveraging Nokia’s NDAC platform), vehicle, operator and personnel safety solutions, vehicle emissions reduction technologies and solutions and energy distribution system management and optimization solutions. We welcome your product/solution submissions for the multi-modal freight solution Challenges.
Download the application package (PDF) to learn more about this set of challenges.
Challenge 1
Freight monitoring and tracking, multimodal route optimizations, carrier and driver monitoring and efficiency solutions.
Challenge 1: Freight monitoring and tracking, multi-modal route optimization, carrier and driver monitoring and efficiency solutions.
Solutions for freight monitoring and tracking, multi-modal route optimization, carrier and driver monitoring and efficiency particularly for ports and airports, but also for distribution centres, transfer stations and other key points of freight shipping.
Challenge 2
Optimization for the safety of personnel at port, airport, distribution centre and other freight handling points.
Challenge 2: Optimization for the safety of personnel at port, airport, distribution centre and other freight handling points.
Optimization for the safety of personnel at port, airport, distribution centre and other points of freight handling, including vehicle operators and other personnel. May include infrastructure-based solutions such as sensors and software, vehicle-based solutions and person-based solutions such as wearables and smart, connected clothing.
Challenge 3
Leverage vehicle data to optimize for vehicle safety, operator safety and emissions reductions.
Challenge 3: Leverage vehicle data to optimize for vehicle safety, operator safety and emissions reduction.
Connected vehicle monitoring, maintenance, and emission optimization solutions that leverage vehicle-based data and systems to optimize for vehicle safety, operator safety and emissions reduction.
Decarbonizing heavy truck shipping
CITM and our partners Geotab ITS and Inovex are working to help manufacturers of heavy goods as well as fleets and truck owners, like Road Runner Prime Logistics adopt electrified powertrains (batteries and/or hydrogen fuel cells) for Class 6 to Class 8 trucks. Similarly, the energy provider, Hamilton Community Enterprises (HCE) and their supply chains want to understand where to invest in infrastructure such as charging stations, hydrogen fueling stations and their supply chains. We welcome your product/solution submissions for the decarbonizing heavy truck shipping Innovation Challenges.
Download the application package (PDF) to learn more about this set of challenges.
Challenge 1
Optimizing heavy goods shipment on Class 6-8 trucks.
Challenge 1: Optimizing heavy good shipment on Class 6-8 trucks.
CITM is looking for trucking logistics solutions, route optimization solutions, driver monitoring and efficiency solutions and other types of innovative products and solutions that can leverage Road Runner Prime Logistics’ data on Geotab’s Altitude platform and Inovex’s expertise and additional datasets to help optimize the shipment of heavy goods on Class 6 to Class 8 trucks for fuel efficiency, routing and support an analysis of where future energy infrastructure to support battery and fuel cell power vehicles should be located.
A comprehensive analysis is required to understand where larger trucks carrying heavy goods travel through Ontario, primarily along the 401 corridor and the 403/QEW and 402 corridors, to border points and ports. This analysis will:
- enable manufacturers, fleet and truck owners to understand how to optimize routes, and improve driver and vehicle efficiency including driving habits and fuel consumption.
- enable energy infrastructure and energy providers to understand where to locate potential hydrogen fueling stations and fast-charging locations for goods traffic.
Challenge 2
Converting Class 6-8 trucks to electrified powertrains using either batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.
Challenge 2: Converting Class 6-8 trucks to electrified powertrains using either batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.
A comprehensive analysis is required to understand where larger trucks carrying heavy goods travel through Ontario, primarily along the 401 corridor and the 403/ QEW and 402 corridors, to border points and ports.
This analysis will:
- enable manufacturers, fleet and truck owners to understand how to optimize routes, and improve driver and vehicle efficiency including driving habits and fuel consumption.
- enable energy infrastructure and energy providers to understand where to locate potential hydrogen fueling stations and fast-charging locations for goods traffic.
Challenge 3
Converting or replacing diesel trucks with electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Challenge 3: Converting or replacing diesel trucks with electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Provide a solution(s) — optimized for operating costs, utility and fuel costs and other fleet operation parameters — that helps fleet operators plan for and manage the conversion and/or replacement of diesel engine large trucks with electric or hydrogen fuel-cell-based vehicles.
Thank you to our industry & technology partners!

Nokia

Nokia
Nokia is CITM’s intelligent communications infrastructure solution program partner, providing access to the NDAC 5G wireless platform and data marketplace. NDAC 5G is a high-performance, end-to-end private wireless networking and edge computing platform.

Naryant

Naryant
Naryant, a data analytics powerhouse, will support the analytics process and provide supplementary datasets.

GEOTAB ITS

GEOTAB ITS
Geotab ITS provides aggregate commercial transportation analytics via its Altitude platform.

Hamilton Community Enterprises

Hamilton Community Enterprises
HCE connects and powers Hamilton and other communities in bold new ways that accelerate them towards a smart, sustainable future. Engineering, implementation and operation of integrated, resilient, underlining data and energy critical network technologies.

Road Runner Prime Logistics

Road Runner Prime Logistics
Road Runner Prime Logistics offers emergency expedite service of repair parts for machinery breakdowns where “time and money” are of the essence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Applications closed January 22, 2023. Sign up for updates about our next round of challenges here: Sign up for Challenge Notifications
Please apply by completing the following application form by 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) January 22, 2023.
Applicants must ensure that documentation included in the application process is their own work.
Any application that is received by the Organizers that is illegible or has not been received through the website outlined above is automatically void.
The Organizers assume no responsibility for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network, telephone lines, computer online systems, servers, access providers, computer equipment, software, or the failure of any application to be received by the Organizers on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the internet or at any website, or any combination thereof.
Any company that is headquartered in Ontario, Canada and/or be majority Canadian owned (>50%), and is willing to become a client/member of CITM for free if accepted into the program.
No, but the experience will look a little different for pre-revenue companies. Early-stage companies with products that are not quite ready for customers, that are invited to participate, will be connected with coaching, programming, resources, and educational content to support their continued development.
There is no cost to apply to participate in an innovation challenge or to become a member of CITM.
You do not have to be a client/member with Innovation Factory or CITM to submit your solution when there is a call for solutions. If selected to participate and participate in the challenge, you will be asked to complete an intake form which will provide you with access to support, services, resources and strategic connections from both Innovation Factory and CITM.
Innovation Partners are startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an innovative product, solution or service that is selected to solve the Industry/Technology Partners’ challenge. The Innovation Partner must work with, leverage, build on top of or integrate with the Technology Partner’s foundational technology or platform to solve the Industry Partner’s challenge.
An Industry Partner is the ultimate end customer who determines the problem or use case that forms the basis of the “challenge” that requires a technology, product, service or other solution from the SME Innovation Partner. The Industry Partner hosts and sponsors a pilot or test implementation of the winning challenge entrant, either in a lab / constrained environment or operating environment.
A Technology Partner is typically a technology solutions provider to the Industry Partner, whose products or solutions form a core component or foundation for the required innovation to solve for the challenge. In some cases, the Technology Partner is the one seeking the Innovation Partner’s solution, typically as a solution or partner within their solution ecosystem, to address an end customer needs or problem. On occasion, the Technology Partner can also be the Industry Partner, if the problem or challenge is one of a product design and development nature.
Subscribe to our email list for notification of future Innovation Challenge opportunities.
Disclosure and Ownership of Technologies and Materials
All participants will retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in the subject matter of their applications. Participants are cautioned that intellectual property rights, including patentable inventions and industrial designs, may be compromised by public disclosure.
Submission of an application to the Forum should be considered a public disclosure. Participants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged, or presented in their business plan or the Panel Review. Organizers and sponsors of the Forum, staff, evaluation panel, audience members, etc. will not be asked to sign any non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements. The evaluation/presentation will be conducted in a meeting with attendance open to the general public.
Participants acknowledge that it is their responsibility to take steps prior to submitting entries to preserve their intellectual property rights in any subject matter contained therein.
Publishing and Promotion
Once materials are submitted, the organizers reserve the right to publish information respecting the participants’ work in publications and to release information to the media, which may include radio, television, print media, and the Internet.
Miscellaneous
Applications and extra inclusions will not be returned after submission.
The Organizers accept no liability whatsoever arising in respect of the participation in the Challenge by any individual or either of the Innovation, Technology or Industry partner involved.
By submitting an application, each participant releases and holds harmless the Organizers, their affiliates and subsidiaries, advertising and promotional agencies, any panelists appointed by them, and in each case their respective directors, officers, owners, employees, agents, representatives, successors and assigns, from any and all liability in connection with the Forum or resulting from acceptance, possession or use of any grant including, without limitation, personal injury, death, and property damage, and claims based on publicity rights, defamation, or invasion of privacy.
By accepting your invitation to participate in the Innovation Challenge, the successful participant authorizes the Organizers the right to use his/her name, address, likeness, photograph, application, and/or statements in advertising and for other promotional or publicity purposes without compensation.
The Organizers reserve the right, without advance notice, to suspend, delay or cancel the Challenge or to modify these guidelines for any reason or as required by applicable law. Organizers will make best efforts to notify all participants of any changes.
By submitting your application, you represent and warrant to the Organizers that your submission is your own original work and that you have the sole right to submit it to the Organizers.

Have more questions?
Get in touch with Richard Dunda, Director, CITM
richard.dunda@citm.ca