NIST PSCR Tech to Protect Challenge

NIST PSCR Tech to Protect Challenge

Funds entrepreneurs, companies, and technologists building public safety communications technology through a NIST PSCR open innovation prize competition.

Eligibility · United States (in-person events); online participation open more broadly

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The NIST Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division administered the Tech to Protect Challenge as part of its Open Innovation Prize Challenges program. PSCR is a division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the U.S. Department of Commerce and is the primary federal laboratory for public safety communications R&D.

The Tech to Protect Challenge offered up to $2,200,000 in total cash prizes across ten unique contests. Prizes were awarded directly to winning teams — no equity is taken, and NIST makes no IP claim on participants' solutions. The challenge ran across 2019–2020, with ten in-person codeathon events in cities across the United States and an online participation track.

Eligibility was explicitly broad. The challenge invited entrepreneurs, technologists, students, programmers, designers, and public safety experts. Private and public entities providing communications products or services were explicitly named as welcome. The challenge covered five technical areas: secure communications, location-based services, public safety data analytics, mission-critical voice, and UI/UX.

Participants could enter online (rolling application June 1 – November 15, 2019) or in person at codeathon events in September and November 2019. A final national award event was held in April 2020. Evaluation was conducted by NIST PSCR staff and subject-matter experts.

The Tech to Protect Challenge ran in 2019–2020 and is now closed. NIST PSCR continues to evaluate future prize challenge opportunities and will announce new competitions on Challenge.gov and the PSCR website.