MDIA, the organization that pioneered the nation’s first Public Innovation Authority as a new model for public sector innovation in Miami-Dade County, today announced a $3 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to expand that model into new communities across the country. MDIA helps local governments use emerging technology and innovative solutions to deliver services more effectively and efficiently and improve quality of life for residents.
Since launching in Miami-Dade County in 2023, MDIA has built a repeatable process — the Public Innovation Challenge — that takes local government departments from diagnosing a problem, to piloting and validating solutions with startups and tech-enabled small businesses, to a pathway to procurement. Across eight challenges, that work has spanned everything from airport passenger experience to seaport cargo visibility to emergency management. Its model has shortened the time between solicitation to pilot launch by as much as 67%, from an average of 18–24 months down to as fast as seven months. Its open challenges yield a response rate 17 times higher than that of a typical government RFP, with an average of 70+ applications compared to the 5-15 range a standard solicitation attracts.
“Each local Public Innovation Challenge will open the door to structured collaboration between local government and entrepreneurs and tech-enabled small businesses in that community — a chance for local innovators to solve public problems in their own backyard,” said Leigh-Ann Buchanan, President & CEO of MDIA. “Technology innovation is far outpacing the ability of cities and municipalities to drive the changes they want to see. Our approach works alongside existing procurement rules to break down the barriers cities often face – slow procurement cycles, heavy requirements and specifications in prescribing solutions, and a lack of capacity in back-end integration. We work hand-in-hand with cities to test solutions in real-world settings before committing substantial funding, and build capacity for replicating solutions.”
The model targets services that shape the day-to-day resident experience with local government — waste management, transportation, water utilities, digital services, housing, and emergency management. By helping governments test and adopt solutions, MDIA has been able to reduce wait times, speed up permitting, and ensure public services keep pace with the digital experiences residents expect everywhere else.
The announcement also marks MDIA’s evolution from a single-market organization into the parent brand for a growing national network of partner communities, with Miami-Dade Innovation Authority continuing on as the flagship market and proof point.
“Miami-Dade is a community built by innovators. That’s true of our residents and our businesses, and it needs to be true of our government, too,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “We don’t just want to talk about innovation; we want to prove it can work. We’ve seen how this model drives efficiency and delivers better results for the communities we serve.”
With Knight Foundation’s investment, MDIA will bring its Public Innovation Challenge model to a founding cohort of communities in Knight Foundation markets — including Akron, Ohio; Macon, Georgia; and more to be announced. Each community will commit local leadership, staff time, and matching resources to run its own Public Innovation Challenges built on the infrastructure, playbook, and technical assistance MDIA developed in Miami-Dade County.
“MDIA started with a simple idea: bring innovators closer to the problems local governments face,” said Francesca de Quesada Covey, vice president of community impact at Knight Foundation. “In Miami-Dade, we’ve seen how much more is possible when we do that. MDIA’s pilots have saved time and money while improving resident services. I’m delighted to see this proven model scale to other Knight communities.”
The investment also supports MDIA’s evolution into a national platform. Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, which launched in 2023 with support from Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade County, and Griffin Catalyst, pioneered the first-of-its-kind model and will continue to serve as its flagship organization, operating in partnership with Miami-Dade County.
Over the coming months, MDIA will work with founding communities to launch local Public Innovation Challenges, beginning with Akron in late 2026, publish city-specific case studies, and build out the shared infrastructure, including data, governance, and evaluation tools that will let the network scale. Additional communities, funders, and philanthropic partners interested in bringing the model to their own city can learn more at mdia.co.
About MDIA
MDIA bridges gaps between private innovators and the public sector to fast-track the procurement of technology and innovation solutions that enable municipalities to more effectively and efficiently address pressing issues that impact resident quality of life in cities. Through its signature Public Innovation Challenge, it identifies, invests in, and supports early-to-growth stage companies to pilot, test, and validate their technology in collaboration with the economic engines and local government. To learn more about MDIA, please visit mdia.co.
About Knight Foundation
We are social investors who support democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once had newspapers.
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