Civic Tech Jam

DEPARTMENT

Codes and Building Safety

​ 

CHALLENGE

Metro codes serve a diverse customer base, and non-English-speaking customers represent approximately 40% of their interactions at the zoning help desk.​

RESEARCH QUESTION

How can we provide real-time interpretation for inquiries related to the technical aspects of building codes and zoning ordinances?​

DEPARTMENT

Codes and Building Safety​

CHALLENGE

Metro Codes has a large volume of permits it reviews annually—approximately 13,500 permits.​

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we make our plans review and permit issuance more efficient using automation?​

DEPARTMENT

Metro Nashville Police Department​

CHALLENGE

Police staff analyze large volumes of incident data, and leveraging technology could help identify patterns more quickly to enhance public safety.​

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we leverage technology to identify trends that make our city safer and solve crimes faster?​

DEPARTMENT

Metro Nashville Police Department​

CHALLENGE

Camera analytics that isolate footage for search criteria could allow for potential evidence in crimes or locating missing people faster.​

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we use non-facial recognition technology or other emerging technology with privacy concerns to locate people or evidence more efficiently?

DEPARTMENT

Metro Nashville Public Schools​

CHALLENGE

In Middle Tennessee, teacher recruitment and retention remain a critical challenge—for the 2025-26 school year, MNPS had approximately 170 teacher vacancies.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can giving new-to-teaching or return-to-teaching job candidates individualized, clear and customized recommendations on their teaching licensure pathways increase the number and quality of teacher applicants for MNPS?

DEPARTMENT

Metro Nashville Public Schools​

CHALLENGE

K-12 education is an increasingly competitive market, and the enrollment process is often families’ first introduction to MNPS. The current enrollment process, while functional, could be more user-friendly.​

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can a more engaging, user-friendly interface increase enrollment and improve families’ first impressions of MNPS?​

DEPARTMENT

Metro Public Health Department​

CHALLENGE

In TN over 10 people die per day from a drug overdose, and while we have life-saving treatment, many don’t know how to use it.​

RESEARCH QUESTION

How can we make a simple, easy-to-use tech-based module that teaches the public how to properly use Narcan?​

DEPARTMENT

Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure

CHALLENGE

Misuse of the curb (double parking, improper parking) results in congestions and safety concerns.

RESEARCH QUESTION

How can we automate detection of improper use of the curb to identify potential solutions and to notify parking enforcement?

DEPARTMENT

Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure

CHALLENGE

High pedestrian traffic times cause lines that make safewalks unsafe in front of certain establishments.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we develop a tool to monitor these lines and identify a solution to support safe operations?

DEPARTMENT

Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure

CHALLENGE

Traffic congestions is a growing challenge, with increasing travel time delays.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Could NDOT use existing and future LiDAR detection systems to better inform traffic management systems to be more responsive to existing system needs in real time?

DEPARTMENT

Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure

CHALLENGE

Metro Nashville PD needs additional information to provide real-time and predictive information of Lower Broadway between 1st and 5th to ensure the safety of pedestrians due to high traffic.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we develop a higher level of automated decision support systems to provide predictive and real-time recommendations to stakeholders?

DEPARTMENT

Nashville Department of Waste Services​

CHALLENGE

Explore innovative solutions to turn discarded glass into different types of resources. Specifically, finding new ways to explore chemical or mechanical processes to repurpose glass beyond traditional recycling. ​

RESEARCH QUESTION

How can we turn discarded glass into a resource for our city while also contributing to overall waste reduction?​

DEPARTMENT

Nashville Department of Waste Services​

CHALLENGE

Waste stream auditing is an effective way to measure waste management efficiency, but current processes involve a lot of manual labor and are time intensive. ​

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we use automated technology to streamline and ensure the accuracy of waste audits?​

DEPARTMENT

Nasville Department of Waste Services​

CHALLENGE

Nashville’s downtown area faces a current challenge for trash and recycling collections: how to navigate tight and congested urban spaces. ​

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we use technology and pneumatic tubes to navigate tight and congested urban spaces when removing waste?​

DEPARTMENT

Office of Family Safety

CHALLENGE

Family Safety Center staff support thousands of survivors converting oral accounts into written narratives, with a strain on capacity.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can technology be used to streamline both voice-to-text conversion and analysis of documents to highlight specific criteria more efficiently?

DEPARTMENT

WeGo Public Transit

CHALLENGE

Ensuring traffic light timing can support buses staying on schedule is in motion, but WeGO is seeking ways to measure effectiveness.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can we integrate location data and traffic signal data to measure effectiveness of traffic light timing?

  2:30–2:45 p.m.

Check-in

  2:45 p.m.

Opening Remarks

Welcome

Colleen Herndon, Assistant Director, Metro Nashville Information Technology Services & Tech Studio Partner

City of Nashville’s Opportunity

Kristin Wilson, Chief of Operations and Performance / OEM, Nashville Mayor’s Office

Benefits of Partnership for Academia & Deploying Real World Projects

Abhishek Dubey, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Vanderbilt University School of Engineering

Pitch Process & Today’s Event

Colleen Herndon, Assistant Director, Metro Nashville Information Technology Services & Tech Studio Partner

  3:05 p.m.

Pitches

Codes and Building Safety, 2 pitches
Metro Nashville Police Department, 2 pitches
Metro Nashville Public Schools, 2 pitches
Metro Public Health Department, 1 pitch
Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure, 4 pitches
Nashville Department of Waste Services, 3 pitches
Office of Family Safety, 1 pitch
WeGo Public Transit, 1 pitch

  4:10 p.m.

Closing & Post-Event Process

Colleen Herndon, Assistant Director, Metro Nashville Information Technology Services & Tech Studio Partner

  4:15–4:45 p.m.

Networking