Prize competitions
Explore prize competitions and innovation challenges. This directory lists cash prizes, challenge programs and awards for solving a defined problem, from government agencies, foundations, corporates and challenge platforms, with the deadline, prize purse and entry rules on every listing.
Showing 409-432 of 458 grants
Techarena Challenge
Techarena · Sweden
Offers Nordic startups exhibition space, lodging and investor access at Almedalen.
TechLeap Prize: Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge
🇺🇸NASA STMD · United States
Funds teams developing robotics technologies for payload manipulation in space through a NASA prize competition.
Technology Challenges and Opportunities to Special Operation Forces in 2027
SOCOM · United States
Paid individual authors up to $2,500 for essays forecasting technology's impact on Special Operations Forces.
The Arena Pitch Competition
🇨🇦Metronomics · Canada
Awards Canadian student founders up to $10,000 in a national bracket-style pitch competition.
The Meta Lab Startup Challenge
MassChallenge / CFH · United States
Offers startups a $30,000 travel-and-cash pool to pilot with Charlotte's biggest firms.
TiE Women Program 2026
TiE Women · Global / Multinational
Awards equity-free cash prizes to women-founded startups at a global pitch competition.
TOPx HHS Tech Sprint for AI and Invisible Illness — Grand Prize
🇺🇸HHS · United States
Pays a $1,000,000 grand prize to the team with the best AI tool for Lyme disease or other invisible illness.
TOPx HHS Tech Sprint for AI and Invisible Illness — Impact Award
🇺🇸HHS · United States
Pays $15,000 each to 15 teams for AI tools that improve detection or care for Lyme disease and invisible illness.
TOPx HHS Tech Sprint for AI and Invisible Illness — People's Choice Prize
🇺🇸HHS · United States
Pays $5,000 each to 5 publicly-voted teams in HHS's AI challenge for Lyme disease and invisible illness.
Track 1: AI Tools to Support Caregivers
🇺🇸Administration for Community L · United States
Pays up to $100,000 per Phase 1 winner, plus a possible $50,000 bonus, to teams designing AI tools that directly help caregivers of older adults and people with disabilities.
Turku Startup Prize 2026 – Early-Stage Growth Track
Startup Turku · Finland
Pays 10,000 euros plus mentorship to an early-validation startup that pitches best at the Turku Startup Prize finals.
Turku Startup Prize 2026 – ScaleUp Track
Startup Turku · Finland
Pays 25,000 euros plus acceleration support to a traction-stage startup that pitches best at the Turku Startup Prize finals.
UN FAO World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards
WFF · Global / Multinational
Recognizes agrifood startups across four themes, with XTC layering a special AI award on top of the UN's global awards.
UNBUILT 2026 Award
Buildner Competitions · Global / Multinational
Awards a €100,000 prize fund for the best unbuilt architecture, interior and landscape designs.
United Hacks V7
Hack United · Global / Multinational
Pays a $1,050 cash prize pool, no equity taken, to global student hackathon participants of all skill levels who build projects across Design and Education themes in a 48-hour virtual event.
Upskill Prize for the Solar Manufacturing Workforce
🇺🇸SETO · United States
Pays U.S. solar manufacturers and training organizations up to $500,000 each to train new or incumbent workers for the solar manufacturing workforce.
US Navy Challenge: Autonomous Detection of Marine Mammals
🇺🇸Navy · United States
Pays teams up to $75,500 to build sensor systems that detect whales near naval and commercial vessels.
Verizon Community Disaster Resilience Innovation Accelerator
🇺🇸MassChallenge · United States
Supports teams solving disaster resilience with advances in analytics, communications, autonomy, power, sensing, and prediction technologies.
Water Discovery Challenge 2
🇬🇧Water Innovation Fund · United Kingdom
Awards UK-incorporated innovators up to £650,000 in total -- up to £100,000 as a Finalist, then up to £550,000 more as a Winner -- to develop and scale an innovation for the water sector in England and Wales.
Water Discovery Challenge 2
🇬🇧Ofwat · United Kingdom
Funds early-stage water-sector innovations with staged seed funding for finalists and winners.
Water Resource Recovery Prize
🇺🇸DOE AMO · United States
Pays up to $1 million to teams recovering energy, nutrients and water from wastewater plants.
Waves to Water Prize
🇺🇸DOE WPTO · United States
Paid teams a $3.3 million pool to build wave-powered desalination units for disaster relief.
Wellcome Prize for Mental Health Science
Wellcome · United Kingdom
Awards $1 million to one winning mental-health research team, and $250,000 each to three runners-up, developing new interventions for anxiety, depression or psychosis, worldwide.
Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize
Wellcome · United Kingdom
Funds a £6.25 million challenge prize for innovations that improve snakebite outcomes worldwide.