Mayors Challenge

Mayors Challenge is sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Encourages cities to develop innovative solutions to urban challenges, with winners receiving funding and support.

Mayors Challenge | Bloomberg Philanthropies Government Innovation Spurring Innovation in Cities Mayors Challenge Inspiring bold, replicable innovations developed by cities The Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge is a competition to spur local government innovation that improves lives in cities around the world.

The sixth Challenge awarded municipalities that have proposed and tested the best breakthrough ideas to bolster essential services at scale – including cooling homes, reducing waste, lowering utility costs, expanding transit, increasing jobs, and more. The 24 winners represent 20 countries and over 35 million residents.

Selected from more than 630 applications, Bloomberg Philanthropies considered prototypes developed by 50 cities during the finalist phase, when each pressure-tested core hypotheses with residents. The 24 winning ideas were ultimately chosen for their novelty, potential impact, and strength of implementation plans.

The latest Mayors Challenge builds on more than 10 years of work led by Bloomberg Philanthropies to discover, nurture, and drive innovation in cities. The awards across five previous rounds of competition have provided 38 winning municipalities with funding and technical assistance to realize their ideas for addressing civic issues.

By supporting the replication of the most successful winning ideas — from Providence Talks , an early literacy program that boosts childhood learning, to Visor Urbano , Guadalajara’s pioneering initiative to digitize permitting and reduce corruption — Bloomberg Philanthropies has expanded the impact of the Mayors Challenge to 337 cities globally, reaching over 100 million residents.

For Local Government Innovators Visit the Bloomberg Cities Network , created in partnership with Johns Hopkins for city leaders and innovators full of resources, learning opportunities, and connections to peers around the world. Join the network to receive exclusive resources, including access to world-class training and events, peer networking opportunities, powerful city solutions, and more.

See all of our Government Innovation program areas Top photo: The Mayors Challenge winning project from Pasig, Philippines is co-designing with residents floating parks in flood-prone waterways to reduce overflow, add green space, and strengthen community ties.