City to Host Community Demo Day to Showcase Neighborhood Technology Solutions

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PRESS RELEASE

Above: Community members and City staff work together to identify community challenges and co-design innovative solutions at a Long Beach Collaboratory community workshop held at Studio One Eleven.

Long Beach, CA - The City of Long Beach Technology and Innovation Department (TID) will host LB Co-Lab Community Demo Day on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, a free event where Long Beach residents will directly participate in the selection of proposed innovative solutions to neighborhood challenges as part of the second cohort of the City's Long Beach Collaboratory (LB Co-Lab) program. This community-driven event represents the culmination of months of collaborative work between City staff and neighborhood Innovators-in-Residence to identify and solve three pressing Long Beach challenges, for which each of the three selected projects will each receive $75,000 in pilot funding for a 12-month period.

"Demo Day exemplifies the City's commitment to putting residents at the center of municipal innovation," said Mayor Rex Richardson. "By empowering community members to shape technology procurement decisions directly, we're building a new model of democratic governance that will set an example of how local government can build trust and drive positive change through community collaboration."

Demo Day, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Pointe Conference Center at California State University, Long Beach (1250 N. Bellflower Blvd.), will feature interactive presentations, demonstrations and Q&A sessions from finalist solution providers addressing three pressing civic challenges: improving access to City services, advancing safety in commercial corridors, and maintaining and activating vacant lots. Event attendees will have opportunities to learn about each proposed solution and provide direct feedback, which will be used to inform the selection of awarded projects for each civic challenge. Long Beach residents of all ages are encouraged to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

Through Demo Day, attendees will experience firsthand how community-driven innovation addresses pressing municipal challenges and leads to more effective City solutions, as well as how this process builds trust between residents and local government. Community members interested in attending Demo Day can pre-register at lbcity.info/colab-demo or contact LB Co-Lab Program Manager Ryan Welch at [email protected] or 562.470.7002. Interpretation services will be available in Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog.

"The Demo Day event represents a fundamental shift in how cities procure technology," said Lea Eriksen, Director of the Technology and Innovation Department. " When we trust residents to help shape the solutions that affect their daily lives, we get better outcomes and stronger communities. Demo Day represents the future of municipal innovation - collaborative, transparent, and driven by the people we serve."

The City is currently facilitating a competitive Request for Proposals process to evaluate and identify finalist solution providers for each civic challenge. Finalist solution providers and their proposed projects will be announced by the City in the coming weeks. For the second cohort of the program, all pilot projects will align directly with the City's 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games strategic areas including sustainability, public safety and community pride, showcasing the City's innovative approach to resident-driven governance.

The LB Co-Lab program builds on the success of its first cohort launched in 2023, which brought together 27 community residents to design technology-based solutions in public spaces across four neighborhoods. Evaluation of the first cohort showed 95% of participants felt their input was reflected in City technology decisions, up from 47% before participation, demonstrating the program's effectiveness in building trust and delivering responsive solutions to neighborhood challenges.

LB Co-Lab strengthens Long Beach's position as a leader in civic innovation, setting a national example for how cities can harness resident expertise to drive meaningful change through community collaboration and transparent decision-making. The program is part of the Long Beach Smart City Initiative, established in 2021 with guiding principles of equity, inclusion, resilience and community collaboration. The program is funded by the City's Innovation Fund and a grant from the Long Beach Community Foundation's Knight Foundation donor-advised fund.

To learn more about LB Co-Lab, visit the program webpage. The Smart City Initiative webpage provides additional information about the initiative, including guiding principles, pilot programs, and ongoing projects. To stay informed about smart city efforts and community engagement opportunities, sign up for the City's Smart City Initiative newsletter.

About the City of Long Beach
Long Beach is nestled along the Southern California coast and home to approximately 466,000 people. As an award-winning full-service charter city, Long Beach offers the amenities of a metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods, culture, and community. With a bustling downtown and over six miles of scenic beaches, Long Beach is a renowned tourist and business destination and home to the iconic Queen Mary, nationally recognized Aquarium of the Pacific and Long Beach Airport, award-winning Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and world-class Port of Long Beach.

For more information about the City of Long Beach, visit longbeach.gov/. Follow us on social to keep up with the latest news: Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. To learn more about Technology and Innovation, visit longbeach.gov/ti.

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