Running an innovation challenge? Here are 7 ways to get it wrong.

I’ve sat through a lot of pitches and I’ve seen it all. Global reach, dozens of countries, hundreds of applications, and a slick prototype that promises to change everything.

Then? Nothing happens.

No pilot. No follow-up. The startup disappears, and the budget's gone. But the demo day photos still make it onto LinkedIn.

At Communitech, we’ve helped partners like Pfizer and cities across Canada run innovation challenges that led to pilots, deployments and ROI. We know what works, and we’ve seen what doesn’t.

An innovation challenge is a structured call-out to startups or tech partners to help solve a specific business or operational problem. Done right, it leads to pilots, partnerships and new capabilities. Done poorly, it becomes expensive theatre.

Want to waste your money? Follow these seven steps:

1. Keep it a secret

For mediocre results, lock your challenge behind NDAs, invite only existing vendors and bury the brief in a legal portal no one reads.

What works: When we ran global challenges with Pfizer, they went wide by using trusted intermediaries to reach innovators in health care. Great ideas don't always come from expected places.

2. Ask for napkin sketches

Attract startups with vague concepts and no actual tech. PowerPoints over prototypes. Extra points for phrases like “synergistic AI-driven blockchain enablement.”

What works: Strong challenges ask for implementation-ready solutions. The best ones even pre-vet for pilots. One major retailer we worked with scoped its challenge around deployable tech and they’re using it now in stores.

3. Assemble a clueless committee

Create a judging panel of senior execs with no real context or skin in the game. Avoid talking to the people who’d actually use the solution.

What works: Smart companies bring in cross-functional teams, including frontline users and external experts. Diverse judging panels lead to better decisions.

4. Give out participation trophies

Throw a glitzy demo day, post on LinkedIn, then vanish. No pilot. No follow-up. No change.

What works: The best-run challenges plan for implementation before launch, with a budget, team and timeline locked in. That’s how cities we’ve worked with went from pitch to pilot within months, not years.

5. Move at corporate speed

Take six months to collect ideas, eight months to review, and a few more to "socialize internally.” By then, most startups will have moved on.

What works: Fast timelines keep momentum high. One challenge we supported was evaluated in weeks and moved to pilots in under 90 days. Speed means survival in startup land.

6. Ignore everyone who didn’t win

Focus on the winner and ghost the rest. Offer no feedback, no follow-up and no future opportunity.

What works: A smart challenge builds relationships across the board. One partner even turned two “non-winners” into long-term vendors. Innovation isn’t a one-night stand.

7. Write terrible legal terms

Make startups hand over their IP while you commit to nothing. A+ way to scare off anyone with a viable business model.

What works: Respectful, reasonable legal terms attract better talent. One city we worked with created startup-friendly terms that now get shared as a best practice.

Innovation challenges aren’t the problem. How most enterprises run them is.

They’re business development tools, not marketing campaigns, and they need to be treated that way.

So ask yourself if your challenge is designed to solve a real problem, and whether it will lead to action.

If you’re trying to move quickly on a tough problem, let’s talk. Tell me what you’re working on, and I’ll help you find startup solutions that are ready to go.