Yesterday, August 18, USDOT’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Infrastructure (ARPA-I) launched a new Ideas Challenge, an open call to both the public and private sectors to propose “innovative concepts that will improve safety, lower costs, and enhance America’s infrastructure.” Proposals will be evaluated in a two-stage competition for cash prizes.
In the first stage, participants will “will identify a critical transportation infrastructure challenge, outline a breakthrough solution that could transform transportation, and submit an R&D plan that lays out a path toward deployment and commercialization and metrics for success.” Stage 1 Concept Papers are due September 17, 2025. Selected first stage participants will move on to Stage 2, in which they will be invited to give a presentation at an Ideas Challenge Workshop this fall and submit a detailed concept proposal. Ten finalists will then be chosen to present their submissions to “a distinguished panel of judges and audience members from the public and private sector.”
Up to 15 proposers will be awarded $20,000 each in Stage 1 prizes. Stage 2 participants who submit full project proposals will have an opportunity to win one of five prizes that total an additional $700,000.
Source: USDOT news release