USDOT’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Infrastructure (ARPA-I) received 448 submissions in response to an Ideas Challenge launched in August. The initiative started with an open call to the public and private sectors to propose “innovative concepts that will improve safety, lower costs, and enhance America’s infrastructure.” The submissions were entered in a two-stage competition for cash prizes.
On Tuesday, December 2, USDOT secretary Sean Duffy announced he selected 15 semi-finalists to each receive a cash prize of $20,000 and advance to the next stage of competition. The chosen individuals or teams are invited to present and further refine their ideas at a USDOT Innovation Workshop scheduled for December 9 at USDOT headquarters. In the second and final stage of competition they are eligible to submit a detailed project proposal. Up to 10 of those submissions will be selected for presentation to and final evaluation by “a distinguished panel of judges and audience members from the public and private sectors.” Five prizes worth a cumulative $700,000 are available to finalists.
The UCLA Mobility Lab, the University of Utah, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Leidos, a MetaRE-Arup team, and the Texas Transportation Institute are some of the names on the semi-finalist list. Summaries of the 15 proposals selected by Duffy are available online.
Source USDOT news release, TRN