- Five finalists have been selected for the $3-million Venice Sustainable Cities Challenge
- The finalists were chosen for their innovative solution to encourage the use of existing low- and zero-carbon transport modes
- Finalists will be awarded $130k implementation funding to demonstrate their innovations for the city of Venice
The Toyota Mobility Foundation has announced the five finalists selected to advance in the Sustainable Cities Challenge in Venice, Italy. These finalists were chosen by a panel of expert judges following a rigorous evaluation of solutions aimed at increasing the use of existing low- and zero-carbon transport modes in the city of Venice.
Developed in collaboration with the City of Venice, Challenge Works, and World Resources Institute, the two-stage, three-year $9 million global TMF Sustainable Cities Challenge received over 120 entries from across the world to encourage Venetians to use active mobility, public transport, and shared mobility across Venice’s mainland.
Out of the 120 entries, ten semi-finalists went on to adapt and refine their solutions over a 6-month period. Only five out of ten of the semifinalists were selected to advance to the finalist stage, based on the following criteria: innovation, impact, usability, viability, and team capacity. Judges looked for solutions that not only inspire behavior change towards sustainable transport but also demonstrate a deep understanding of local context, user needs, and implementation feasibility. Each team was required to present a clear demonstration plan with measurable KPIs to ensure long-term impact and scalability.
The judging panel, comprised of urban mobility experts and city stakeholders, selected the following finalists:
- BetterPoints Ltd – BetterPoints works with businesses, public bodies and universities to change the way people think about how they move. The team is developing an app to reward citizens for switching to more active and sustainable modes of travel. They aim to build over 40 behavior change techniques into the app, ensuring gamification, goal setting and other impactful approaches to deliver a modal shift.
- Factual Consulting SL – Factual is an innovative and strategy consulting firm committed to transforming mobility. The team’s platform is a digital tool which aims to promote sustainable mobility habits through innovative approaches like micro incentives. The platform consists of behavior tracking modules which can be integrated into transport apps already used in the city.
- Instant System S.A.S – Instant Systems is a leading Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) provider, empowering over 100 cities and regions worldwide. The team’s platform aims to integrate all available mobility services into a single app. The platform seeks to empower users by sharing real-time travel information, route optimization, and personalized journey suggestions that minimize environmental impact.
- Nudgd AB – Nudgd is a Swedish startup dedicated to driving sustainable behavior change through innovative digital nudging solutions. Its platform aims to integrate behavioral science with digital tools to encourage sustainable mobility habits. The platform will be tailored to Venice’s unique context – where 80% of residents are already multimodal – unlocking potential to shift car-dependent users toward active and shared transport.
- UrbanTide Limited x Love to Ride – Love to Ride Venice is a scalable, data-driven solution combining UrbanTide’s smart mobility insights delivered through Love to Ride’s proven behaviour change platform. The aim is to make cycling more visible, motivating, and accessible through targeted campaigns, real-time analytics, and community engagement. The solution helps Venetians shift everyday travel habits, track progress, and build a self-sustaining cycling culture with lasting, measurable impact.
“At Toyota Mobility Foundation, we believe the future of urban mobility lies in inclusive, human-centred solutions that are both sustainable and scalable. These finalists represent the kind of forward-thinking innovation that can transform cities like Venice—enhancing access, reducing emissions, and improving quality of life. Through this Challenge, we’re not just supporting new ideas; we’re helping to shape a mobility landscape for greener and more liveable cities.” – Monica Perez Lobo, Director at Toyota Mobility Foundation Europe
“Reaching this finalist stage marks an important step that supports Venice’s ongoing journey toward sustainable mobility. It’s not just about deploying smart tools; success lies in how deeply these solutions resonate with people’s everyday needs and choices. This Challenge creates an opportunity to test those insights in a real urban environment and drive meaningful change.” – Kathy Nothstine, Director of Cities and Societies at Challenge Works
The selection of these five teams aligns with an exciting chapter in Venice’s ongoing journey of innovation in the field of mobility. These ideas are designed not just to work here, but to inspire solutions globally. The innovations we see emerging will benefit local communities and offer lessons for cities around the world working to enhance sustainable urban mobility.” – Ben Welle, Director of Integrated Transport and Innovation at World Resources Institute’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
The teams will now receive $130k implementation funding to proceed with them in the Finalist stage, where they will further develop and test their solutions within the city. Their efforts will contribute to a broader vision of cleaner, smarter urban transport systems that can be replicated globally.
The Sustainable Cities Challenge is funded by the Toyota Mobility Foundation and has been designed in partnership with Challenge Works and the World Resources Institute. It aims to create cleaner, more efficient urban mobility systems worldwide. Venice’s finalist solutions exemplify the creativity and commitment needed to address global sustainable challenges through local action.
For more information, visit sustainablecitieschallenge.org.
About the Sustainable Cities Challenge
The Sustainable City Challenge is a two-stage, three-year $9 million global opportunity for cities and innovators. The Sustainable Cities Challenge will be delivered over two stages:
● Stage 1: Call to cities
The Challenge sought cities who wish to host City Challenges in 2024 – 2025. In November 2023, ten shortlisted cities received a range of capacity building support to help them understand the issue they want to solve and attract innovators to provide solutions. This included participation in a capacity building academy in Dallas, Texas from November 13–15, 2023. By May 2024, three cities were selected to host City Challenges to find solutions for local mobility challenges: Detroit (USA), Varanasi (India), and Venice (Italy).
● Stage 2: Call to Innovators via 3 City Challenges
Working with the host cities, the Sustainable Cities Challenge team supported by designing local City Challenges which launched between May and June 2024. Each City Challenge offers up to $3 million in implementation funding to innovators. Host Cities held open calls for entries from innovators via their City Challenge with the support of the Sustainable Cities Challenge team. Together, they selected their finalists to test their solutions in 2024–2025. In 2026, final implementation funding will be given to winners in each host city to continue to implement and grow their solutions.
Timeline of the TMF Sustainable Cities Challenge
· Detroit Challenge: Transforming Height
· Varanasi Challenge: Innovating Crowd Flow
· Venice Challenge: Embracing Sustainable Mobility
Meet the judges
· Jannis Linke: Jannis is a research associate and PhD candidate at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. In his research, he focuses on factors influencing consumers’ choices of sustainable mobility solutions, including the integration of new mobility services. He has collaborated with industry and city partners on various projects and was a visiting PhD student at LSE Cities. Prior to his academic career, he worked in the railway industry.
· Alexander Schmidt: Founder/CEO at BABLE Smart Cities with the mission to create sustainable and inclusive cities and towns. Schmidt’s work focuses on urban mobility, new digital markets, system analysis and development of urban solutions. He holds a M.Sc. Transport from Imperial College London, Environmental Engineering & Business Studies. He was formerly a researcher and project lead at the Fraunhofer Research Society, Morgenstadt, in Stuttgart, Germany and at the MIT Sensible Cities Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Schmidt was also part of the founding and management team of EIT Urban Mobility, an institution of the European Union.
· Karen Vancluysen: Karen has been the Secretary General of POLIS since September 2014, after having been the network’s Research Director for 10 years. POLIS is the leading European network of cities and regions on urban transport innovation. For over 25 years, Karen has been involved in European urban transport networking and policy activities, and EU research and innovation projects covering a wide range of urban mobility topics.
