AI Challenge 2026

Reinventing the Citizen Experience

Developed as part of ALL IN 2026, in collaboration with the City of Montréal, this challenge places participants at the heart of a real-world use case with the potential to transform the municipal services of tomorrow. The AI Challenge: Reinventing the Citizen Experience invites innovative companies from around the world to develop an artificial intelligence solution that enables citizens to report an issue using a photo, accompanied by a voice message or written description, without having to select a category, while automatically analyzing and routing the request.

In collaboration with

City of Montreal : Reinventing the Citizen Experience

Public administrations are constantly seeking new ways to improve service delivery while meeting citizens' growing expectations. Artificial intelligence presents a unique opportunity to automate routine tasks, accelerate request processing, and support better decision-making.

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Applications Close on July 24, 2026

As part of this challenge, the City of Montréal is inviting innovative companies and organizations to develop a solution that enables citizens to report an issue observed within the city, such as a pothole, graffiti, cleanliness issue, damaged infrastructure, or any other situation requiring municipal intervention, using a photo, which may be accompanied by a voice message or written description.

The proposed solution should leverage artificial intelligence to:

Analyze the citizen's request;
Automatically identify the nature of the reported issue;
Determine the appropriate category according to the City's classification system (e.g., pothole, waste, graffiti);
Identify the location of the reported issue;
Automatically route the request to the appropriate municipal department or service.

The solution should simplify the citizen experience while improving the efficiency of municipal operations by:

Reducing categorization errors;
Routing requests more quickly to the appropriate municipal teams.

The five finalist organizations will present their solutions live at ALL IN 2026 before a jury composed of representatives from the City of Montréal, industry leaders, researchers, and experts from the artificial intelligence ecosystem.

Following the challenge, the City of Montréal may, at its discretion, explore collaboration opportunities with the winning organization to assess the development or deployment of the proposed solution.

Why Participate in the AI Challenge

Selected organizations will benefit from:

Two full-access passes to both days of ALL IN 2026;
The opportunity to present their solution to the City of Montréal and a panel of expert judges;
Visibility among municipal, government, and industry decision-makers;
Opportunities to collaborate with partners from Canada's AI ecosystem;
Promotion before, during, and after the event through ALL IN's communications;
Exposure to media and innovation leaders attending ALL IN;
The opportunity to contribute to a project addressing a real operational need of a major municipal administration.

Applications close on July 24, 2026

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Use Cases

The challenge seeks artificial intelligence solutions that improve the processing of citizen reports while increasing the efficiency of municipal operations.

Citizen Reporting

Analysis of photos, voice recordings, or written descriptions;
Automatic identification of the reported issue;
Understanding the context of the request;
Extraction of relevant information;
Identification of the location of the reported issue.

Intelligent Classification

Automatic recognition of the incident type;
Assignment of the appropriate category according to the City's classification system;
Routing requests to the appropriate municipal department;
Detection of similar or duplicate reports.

Municipal Operations Optimization

Automated request processing;
Reduction of categorization errors;
Faster routing of requests;
Workflow optimization.

Citizen Experience

Simplified reporting process;
No manual category selection required;
Improved communication with citizens;
Faster and more efficient municipal services.

Desired Application Areas

Cities face growing challenges related to infrastructure management, service quality, and operational efficiency. Artificial intelligence presents an opportunity to modernize municipal services while improving the citizen experience.

Proposed solutions may incorporate technologies such as:

Computer Vision;
Natural Language Processing (NLP);
Speech Recognition;
Generative AI;
Intelligent Classification;
Process Automation;
Decision Support Systems;
Predictive Analytics;
Integration with existing municipal platforms and systems.

Proposed solutions should demonstrate their ability to improve operational efficiency, simplify the processing of citizen reports, and deliver an intuitive and secure user experience. Particular consideration will be given to solutions demonstrating strong potential for deployment within a real municipal environment.

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Selection Criteria

AI Solution

Innovation of the proposed approach;
Performance and reliability;
Relevance to the challenge;
Technology maturity;
Security, data protection, ethics, and responsible AI;
User experience.

Response to the Challenge

Understanding of the challenge;
Relevance of the proposed solution;
Deployment potential within a municipal environment;
Value delivered to both citizens and municipal teams.

Impact and Potential

Operational efficiency gains;
Improvements to service quality;
Scalability;
Differentiation of the proposed solution.

Additional Criteria

Ability to present the solution in Montréal during ALL IN 2026;
Team expertise;
Existing pilot projects or customers;
Demonstrated results.

Reinventing the Citizen Experience

AI Challenge: Timeline

July 24, 2026 - Proposal submission deadline

End of August 2026 - Announcement of selected organizations

September 16-17, 2026 - Live presentation during ALL IN

Objectives and Requirements

The challenge aims to:

Foster the development of AI solutions for municipal services;
Address a real operational need identified by the City of Montréal;
Accelerate AI adoption across the public sector;
Encourage collaboration between innovative companies and public administrations;
Showcase practical AI solutions capable of transforming citizen services.

The challenge is open to:

Startups;
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
Technology companies;
Research teams;
Organizations developing solutions that integrate artificial intelligence.

Applicants must demonstrate:

A solution incorporating an artificial intelligence or advanced technology component;
A functional prototype, proof of concept, or solution currently under development;
A clear response to the proposed challenge;
A well-defined use case;
A deployment strategy for a real-world environment.

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