Bengaluru Launches Innovative Urban Sustainability Challenge: Transforming India's Silicon Valley Into a Model for Future Cities

Cities like Bengaluru are strategically positioned to experiment with cutting-edge technology solutions.

Bengaluru:

The city of Bengaluru is poised to transform into a center for sustainable urban innovation with the introduction of the Yes/Bengaluru Urban Innovation Challenge.

This program, which forms part of the global Yes/Cities initiative spearheaded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and UpLink, aims to nurture early-stage innovations addressing critical urban challenges such as air quality improvement, water resource management, and resilience against extreme weather events.

"These emerging innovations with potential to solve urban challenges require comprehensive support, strategic partnerships, mentorship opportunities, and innovative financing mechanisms to scale effectively and maximize their impact," according to an official statement.

The San Francisco challenge stands out as one of the most successful examples from the Yes/Cities initiative. The Bengaluru program represents a collaborative venture involving the Karnataka Government, Greater Bengaluru Authority, and various partner organizations.

"The Yes/Bengaluru initiative seeks to establish Bengaluru as an exemplary model of sustainable urban development and to expand effective solutions across India and international markets," the statement emphasized.

Recognized as India's Silicon Valley, Bengaluru was selected as the inaugural location due to its innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem, advanced infrastructure, and thriving IT and startup community.

With projections indicating nearly 40 percent of India's population will reside in urban areas by 2030, developing sustainable urban solutions has become increasingly urgent. Cities like Bengaluru, where over half the population is under 30 years old and technologically adept, provide ideal environments for testing innovative technologies.

Within just six months, an electric mobility solution from the San Francisco challenge was incorporated into the mayor's municipal plans, marking the city's first implementation of curbside electric vehicle charging. "We successfully replicated our New York achievements on the West Coast in significantly less time," noted Tiya Gordon, co-founder of the company.

Yes/Cities represents a global initiative enabling urban centers to conduct location-specific challenges aimed at community revitalization, circular economy development, and entrepreneurship stimulation, coordinated by the World Economic Forum's Centre for Urban Transformation and UpLink, the Forum's platform for early-stage innovation.

How to participate in the challenge?

Startups are invited to submit their proposals to the Yes/Bengaluru Urban Innovation Challenge through the UpLink platform. The submission period runs from October 14, 2025, to November 14, 2025, with winning innovations to be announced in early 2026.