Bellevue selects Civic Innovation Challenge partners

Published October 14 2025

All four selected partners using AI for improved municipal services

The City of Bellevue has selected four tech innovators to participate in its Civic Innovation Challenge, collaborating on technology solutions to municipal challenges. Certivo, Legislaide, Juganu and FindIt are all piloting artificial-intelligence projects that will benefit from a real-world testing ground at the city or Bellevue College.

In early June, the city issued the Civic Innovation Challenge. The selected participants will receive design partnerships that include coaching from seasoned entrepreneurs, help from city staff testing and refining products, an opportunity to showcase their work at the Innovation Exchange and a stipend of up to $15,000.

The cochairs for Bellevue's Innovation Forum sub-teams reviewed and assessed 23 competitive applicants based on the posted criteria.

The Civic Challenge participants are:

• Certivo: A Seattle company with an AI-driven platform that provides real-time visibility into vendor compliance across procurement and cybersecurity. The pilot will determine how well this platform can streamline compliance monitoring and support faster decision-making for city operations.
• Legislaide: The Denver company uses AI to analyze municipal codes, legislative history and state statutes, allowing staff to run plain English searches across agendas, minutes, ordinances, resolutions, reports and more. The pilot will measure their tool's ability to surface insights and simplify legal and policy drafting.
• Juganu: The Israeli company's smart lighting solution will illuminate curbside activity while monitoring real-time usage patterns to support city and Bellevue College transportation and public safety initiatives.
• FindIt: Developed by a local high school student, this AI-powered lost-and-found solution is designed to help Bellevue College students, staff and visitors find lost items quickly, efficiently and sustainably. The pilot will test its usability and effectiveness on campus.

These pilots are designed to explore real-world use cases, assess feasibility and evaluate potential for broader deployment.

The selected Civic Challenge participants will showcase their solutions at the Innovation Exchange in City Hall on Thursday, Oct. 16. The Exchange is a free, daylong event featuring civic tech demonstrations and talks from educators, entrepreneurs and municipal tech leaders, along with the opportunity to learn more about local civic technology startup solutions.

New AI policy supports Innovation Challenge

This month the City of Bellevue has adopted an updated AI policy, which establish a governance framework for the ethical, transparent and responsible use of artificial intelligence. These documents outline how AI systems will be evaluated, managed and implemented across city operations, with a strong emphasis on transparency, privacy, inclusion and innovation to ensure AI enhances public services while protecting community trust.