NIST’s largest open innovation prize competition to date awarded $810,000 to contestants at the Tech to Protect Challenge National Award Event on May 1, 2020. NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division, who funded the Challenge as part of its Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program (PSIAP), distributed the prizes across 25 contestants. By the end of November 2020, PSCR anticipates awarding up to $1.93M in total prizes to contestants for the Tech to Protect Challenge.
The National Award Event recognized contestants’ work in two ways. First, contestants who presented the best application demonstrations received awards ranging from $10,000 to $40,000. Four contestants achieved the highest award amount. Second, 12 contestants who submitted a compelling growth strategy, detailing their next steps to scale up their prototype, were recognized with an additional $30,000 each. They have until November 2020 to progress their products and services for a chance at up to $70,000 each in additional prizes.
Ray Lehr, a Tech to Protect technical lead and veteran firefighter said, "we heard from a group of smart, motivated people from around the country who… are focusing on solving a problem that really needs a solution.”
The problem is that, historically, software developers focus on consumer applications and market segments other than public safety. Such apps may not have the security, functionality, or user experience that first responders require to operate safely and efficiently, and as a result, lack public safety confidence. Tech to Protect was conceptualized to solve that problem. Launched in April 2019, the Tech to Protect Challenge incentivized software developers to collaborate with the public safety community in developing applications customized to the bespoke requirements of first responders.
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