2025 Innovation Lab

Pave the Way Innovation Lab: Challenge Statement

Background:
This past winter, Cincinnati faced an extraordinary surge in pothole service requests-nearly doubling from 4,600 to 8,500. While City teams worked tirelessly to respond, the inability to get ahead of the problem has made it clear that the current approach-reactive repairs based on resident reports and service requests-must evolve. The City of Cincinnati and Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub are partnering to invite innovators, engineers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and residents to participate in an innovation lab and develop new, breakthrough approaches to the way the City identifies, repairs, and prevents potholes. Together, we have an opportunity not only to solve our pothole problem but to position Cincinnati as a national leader in proactive, equitable, and community-driven road maintenance.

Jobs to Be Done:
The City of Cincinnati seeks to reimagine the current process for addressing potholes in order to mitigate the compounding problems of wasted effort, budget strain and public frustration – reducing waste, building trust, and creating an environment in which our residents and businesses can thrive.

Challenge Statement:
How might we work together to help the City of Cincinnati move from a cycle of reactive pothole repairs to a proactive, data-powered, and resident-centered approach-so we can plan better, spend smarter, partner more deeply with citizens, and free up capacity for what matters most?

Your solution could help the city deliver more durable road repairs, increase transparency and trust, and strengthen Cincinnati’s reputation as a vibrant, safe, and welcoming city for all.

Solution Categories:

Solvers are invited to propose solutions in three key areas:

Data & Intelligence
Predictive analytics, unified data platforms, real-time mapping, and dashboards to proactively identify and prioritize repairs.
Communication & User Experience
Tools, apps, and public interfaces that improve how residents report potholes, receive updates, and understand repair timelines.
Materials & Equipment
New repair materials and methods that work across seasons, are environmentally friendly, and increase durability and speed of repairs.

The top solution will be awarded a $5,000 gift

Past Innovation Labs

Using Innovation to Keep Families Strong and at Home

This Event Concluded February 2, 2024

**24 Contestants | 9 Teams**
**Bringing Innovation and Focus to the Challenge of Reducing Evictions.**
*Scroll Down to See the Event Photo Gallery*

24 Data scientists, programers, market research professionals, real estate investors, and community development advocates competed in the Cincinnati Housing Stabilization Hackathon February 2nd at the 1819 Innovation Hub.

Over 40 Innovators applied to the hackathon. The top 9 submissions competed in the event.

The first place award and a check for $1,000 dollars went to a solution called TenantGuard. The team was led by Betsy Ehmcke, a data scientist at 84.51, and included Bijorn Burrell, Jacob Pieniazek, and Nick Ramos. TenantGuard used machine learning trained on 22 weeks of data from the Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey to predict when a tenant would be perceived as at-risk of eviction. The demo app also gave families access to a trained chatbot that would lead them to a knowledge base for all local tenant resources.

Ramos noted that much of the data that might predict housing loss is in a state that is not usable. “So a lot of what we have to do to build a solution is to get the data into a usable state. Tenant Guard is a solution that collects clean data from the start,” he said.

“We knew we would get some nontraditional ideas but we didn’t realize how much passion to solve this problem our contestants would bring to the challenge,” said Flywheel’s executive director, Laura Tepe. Even before the pitch event, contestants were asking how they could collaborate further, both with other contestants and the housing service providers, to further develop the ideas that came out of the event.

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Purval delivered the welcome address and Council Member Meeka Owens served as a judge, as did leaders from housing services providers, and members of the Cincinnati startup community.

Four other contestants were recognized for meritorious solutions

Best use of data - Juan Lazarde, Rosie Manfredi, Alejandro Ramirez, Pepe Lafuente for PRVNT

Best presentation - Serge Doumit, Sean Thimons, Mahmoud Shobair for HESTIA

Most creative approach - Adaite Vagerwal and Sahil Thakara for FinCare

Dignity for the Lived Experience - Cyrina Thomas, Shakeita Moore-Lilly, Alexandria Barnes, Sherry Powell, Candace Gasper Carroll Wallace