September 30, 2020 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) at the University of Washington is now accepting proposals for its fourth annual Tech Day event, a pitch competition for innovators designing solutions for the last mile of the urban goods delivery system. This year’s theme is focused on “Last-Mile Delivery in the New Normal”. Proposals will be accepted until 5 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, October 26.
Proposals should address any of the following key problems:
- Increasing the speed and efficiency of last-mile deliveries
- Reducing carbon emissions and improving sustainability
- Dealing with limited city infrastructure (streets, curbs, and alleys)
- Reducing user and operator cost
The UFL research team will review the proposals and select four finalists to pitch their solutions to UFL members (retailers, shippers, carriers, industry real estate, etc.), UFL researchers, and local agency partners from Seattle and Bellevue Departments of Transportation at Tech Day, held 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon on November 19 via Zoom videoconference.
Each finalist will be given 15 minutes (followed by 5-10 minute Q&A session) to present their solution to a panel of judges representing retail, goods movement, land use, curb management industry, the public sector, and venture capitalist firms.
At the conclusion of the event, a Tech Day winner will be selected by the judges based on technical feasibility, business application, and market potential of the solution, as well as the quality of presentation.
TIMELINE:
Proposals due: October 20 (5 p.m. PDT)
Four finalists notified: November 9
Tech Day pitch competition event: November 19
Read more:
- Tech Day 2019: Transforming the Final 50 Feet of Delivery
- Tech Day 2018: Technological Disruption and Innovation in Last-Mile Delivery
- Tech Day 2017: Innovative Freight Technologies
- Urban Freight Lab impact
- Current research
- Our members
- How we work
- Join the Urban Freight Lab
- In the media
About the Urban Freight Lab (UFL): An innovative public-private partnership housed at the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center at the University of Washington, the Urban Freight Lab is a structured workgroup that brings together private industry with City transportation officials to design and test solutions around urban freight management. Since launching in December 2016, the UFL has completed an innovative suite of research projects on the Final 50 Feet of delivery, providing foundational data and proven strategies to help cities reduce truck dwell times in load/unload spaces, and failed first delivery attempts by carriers, which lowers congestion, emissions, and costs.