Mayor Levine Cava unveils winners of Public Innovation Challenge tasked with elevating the passenger experience at MIA

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, alongside county officials and leaders from Miami-Dade County’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development (OIED), Miami International Airport (MIA), and the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority (MDIA), proudly announced the winners of MDIA’s second Public Innovation Challenge. This challenge continues to prioritize customer service at MIA, showcasing innovative technologies and solutions designed to enhance the airport experience for both passengers and employees.

The showcase featured live demonstrations of the winning technology solutions that will participate in a test program conducted at MIA through fall 2024: RouteMe, which utilizes artificial intelligence to allow a passenger to navigate MIA simply with their phone camera; Signapse (United Kingdom), utilizes Generative AI to deliver text to sign language translation, making digital signage accessible to Deaf passengers at MIA; and Mapsted, which provides airport wayfinding mapping with accessibility features and integration to smart technology devices.

MDIA, working in collaboration with MIA and OIED, selected the Public Innovation Challenge winners from a competitive pool of 136 local and global technology companies after the challenge’s launch in December 2023. MDIA will invest $100,000 in funding into each company to support testing their technology at MIA with the aim to scale these solutions to airports globally afterwards. The test programs will be conducted during the next three months with the option to extend each to as long as 12 months.

Simultaneously, as part of MIA’s Future Ready initiatives, the airport is advancing its Modernization in Action Plan, a comprehensive effort that will invest nearly $9 billion in maintenance upgrades and capital improvements over the next 10 years. This plan includes some of the largest modernization projects in MIA’s history, such as restroom upgrades, new passenger boarding bridges, renovated elevators, escalators, and moving walkways, the construction of a 2,240-space parking facility, a four-star hotel, and terminal-wide redevelopment projects.

Launched in 2023 with seed funding from Miami-Dade County, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin, MDIA was founded with equal private, public, and philanthropic funding totaling $9 million. The Public Innovation Challenge at MIA is the second of three challenges launched during MDIA’s first year of operations, including a collaboration with PortMiami to enhance cargo visibility, which collectively further its mission to address Miami-Dade’s most urgent needs around health, housing, climate, transportation, and equitable access to opportunity.