October 29, 2021 — The Urban Freight Lab (UFL) at the University of Washington is now accepting submissions for its fifth annual Tech Day event, a pitch competition for innovators designing solutions for the last mile of the urban goods delivery system. This year’s event is focused on “Electrifying the Last Mile” and is sponsored by Cornucopia Logistics. Proposals (a brief 2-page summary) will be accepted until 5 p.m. Pacific time on Friday, November 19.
KEY PROBLEMS
Proposals should address any of the following key problems:
- Increasing adaptability of charging infrastructure
- Managing and measuring performance of e-cargo bikes, electric delivery bots, and eVTOLs
- Making scalable delivery technologies
The UFL research team will select four semi-finalists to pitch their solutions virtually at Tech Day, held virtually at 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon on Tuesday, December 7. You’ll get visibility to and feedback from UFL members (retailers, shippers, carriers, industry real estate, etc.), researchers, venture capital, and public agency partners.
JUDGES
One grand prize winner will be selected by a panel of industry expert judges:
- Giacomo Dalla Chiara, Research Associate, Urban Freight Lab
- Darryl Forbes, Vice President of Engineering, UPS Freight
- Kelly Rula, New Mobility Lead, Seattle Department of Transportation
- Bob Tiderington, Senior Manager of Strategy and Operations, BrightDrop
- Stephen Zoepf, Chief of Policy Development, Lacuna Technologies
GRAND PRIZE
At the conclusion of the event, a grand prize 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.
BENEFITS
Semi-finalists will receive visibility, feedback, and the opportunity to fine tune your pitch, gain viability, and build connections with our members, topic experts, venture capital, and public agency partners. The grand prize winner will be announced across our social media channels, on our website, and in our quarterly enewsletter, The Goods. No cash prize will be awarded.
TIMELINE
Proposals due: November 19 (5 p.m. PDT)
Finalists notified: November 30
Tech Day pitch competition event: December 7 (9:30 a.m. to 12 noon PDT)
Read more:
- Tech Day 2020: Last-Mile Delivery in the New Normal
- 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.