Innovation Contests and
CHALLENGES
List of online Innovation and Invention Challenges, Grand Challenges, Contests, and Competitions from around the world, all with Cash Awards and Prizes.
World's biggest and most popular list of Live Challenges
Number of Live Challenges: 92
Prize Money Available: $100,078,300
ATLAS: Offshore Wind Challenge
Deadline: 2019-04-19Award: $175,000
Open to: Everyone*
This challenge seeks wind energy enthusiasts and designers to develop, and test innovative and disruptive pitch control systems for large floating offshore wind turbines affected by asymmetric and unpredictable wind and wave fields.
Rome Collective Living Challenge
Deadline: 2019-04-19Award: $6,000
Open to: Everyone*
The cost of living in Rome has become exceedingly difficult for residents. Focusing on more affordability and better inclusion, the goal of this challenge is to bring back the concept of collective living spaces in Rome's city centre.
Elia Open Innovation Challenge
Deadline: 2019-04-20Award: €20,000
Open to: Technology start-ups*
This challenge is seeking high-voltage experts with novel ideas, or new digital technologies that will improve safety, quality, efficiency and reliability and reduce errors in a current transmission system.
Jumpthegap Roca International Design Contest
Deadline: 2019-04-27Award: €26,000
Open to: Architects and designers*
The 8th annual jumpthegap challenge is now open for submissions. An exciting opportunity to showcase your very best ideas for the best bathroom space of the future. What does your future bathroom look like?
Transforming Nitrate Esters into Stable Compounds
Deadline: 2019-05-01Award: $10,000
Open to: Everyone*
Oxidation Chemists with an interest in the automotive industry are asked to suggest compounds that can decompose or inactivate nitrate esters without producing free radicals and/or unstable products.
The Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge
Deadline: 2019-05-01Award: €1,000,000
Open to: Green startups*
This challenge is looking to fund innovative green start-ups with an eye on contributing to a more sustainable future. Awarded ideas will demonstrate contributions to sustainability, entrepreneurship and creativity.
Differential Privacy Synthetic Data Challenge
Deadline: 2019-05-06Award: $150,000
Open to: Mathematicians, data scientists*
This exciting marathon challenge asks mathematicians and data scientists to design and launch their own synthetic data generation algorithms and compete against other algorithms to offer proof that theirs can satisfy differential privacy.
MIT Inclusion Innovation Challenge
Deadline: 2019-05-09Award: $1,600,000
Open to: Startups and entrepreneurial organizations*
This challenge seeks economically-minded start-ups and entrepreneurial organizations located anywhere globally that are creating unique opportunities for moderate and low income workers.
Solar E-Waste Challenge
Deadline: 2019-05-15Award: $1,000,000
Open to: E-waste, recycling, and solar companies*
Are you, or do you know of a company with novel approaches to e-waste management in off-grid solar sector? Accepted paths include solar lanterns, solar home systems, and solar-powered appliances at their end-of-life.
Individuals Taking Energy Action in Manufacturing (ITEAM) Prize Competition
Deadline: 2019-05-15Award: $75,000
Open to: US citizen 18+ employed by US manufacturer*
This ideas challenge asks participants to submit their most ingenious solutions for saving energy at United States manufacturing facilities.
Million Cool Roofs Challenge
Deadline: 2019-05-20Award: $2,000,000
Open to: Entrants from developing countries*
This challenge hopes to provide affordable, sustainable, solar-reflective cool roofs to developing countries. Entrepreneurs with idea for cooling technologies are required to help improve conditions for heat-stressed communities.
Trailer Angle Detection
Deadline: 2019-05-23Award: $40,000
Open to: Everyone*
Sensor experts and engineers are needed to solve the issue of poor visibility in reversing while towing a trailer. A novel system that can accurately determine trailer angle utilizing the video feed from a rear-facing camera is required.
2019 AHA Innovation Challenge
Deadline: 2019-05-24Award: $140,000
Open to: AHA member hospitals*
AI experts, big data gurus and mobile app developers are called upon to help disrupt community health and eliminate health inequities. Options are limitless in this challenge that aims to aid access to the social determinants of health.
Mitigating the Environmental Impact of Large Photovoltaic Plants
Deadline: 2019-05-28Award: $10,000
Open to: Everyone*
Solar Power has amazing benefits to the environment, however the PV plants needed to generate the energy can stress the local environment. This challenge seeks thoughtful solutions for reducing these various impacts.
EAA Founder’s Innovation Prize
Deadline: 2019-05-31Award: $40,000
Open to: EAA members, college or university students*
Amateur aircraft builders are encouraged to help decrease the fatal in-flight loss of control accident rate for EA-B aircraft with novel ideas for technological and/or training improvements.
Integrated Solution for Translational Innovation in Pain, Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose
Deadline: 2019-05-31Award: $500,000
Open to: US citizen or permanent resident 18+*
This challenge is looking to tackle the opioid crisis through innovative approaches. Creative solvers with ideas on how to integrate solutions from the 4 other NCATS challenges into a single platform are needed!
Biological Assays
Deadline: 2019-05-31Award: $500,000
Open to: US citizen or permanent resident 18+*
Pharmacologists are needed to design biological assays that replicate the effectiveness of existing drugs that treat addiction and that can be used in predictive risk assessments of new drugs for addiction recovery.
Electronic Synthetic Chemistry Portal
Deadline: 2019-05-31Award: $500,000
Open to: US citizen or permanent resident 18+*
This challenge is seeking Chemistry portal designers/Drug Discovery researchers who have ideas on how to utilize data for development of novel chemistries of relevance to the treatment of pain and opioid use disorder.
Integrated Chemistry Database for Translational Innovation in Pain, Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose
Deadline: 2019-05-31Award: $50,000
Open to: US citizen or permanent resident 18+*
Database Designers with an interest in pharma, big data, and chemistry are invited to submit their innovative ideas for an open-source database for pain drugs and treatments for addiction.
Global Cooling Prize
Deadline: 2019-06-01Award: $3,000,000
Open to: Cooling providers, researchers, students*
Disrupt current residential cooling practices with your most creative technology innovations! This challenge asks you to design an environmentally conscious cooling system that can replace current residential air conditioning systems.
Identify Patients Needing Simple Corrective Interventions
Deadline: 2019-06-02Award: $20,000
Open to: Social entrepreneurs*
Obstetric fistula, cervical cancer, club foot, and cataracts all have effective treatments. Yet identifying patients among large populations is difficult. Can you create a way to identify patients and connect them to early treatment solutions?
2019 Global Business Challenge
Deadline: 2019-06-14Award: $125,000 AUD
Open to: Students enrolled in business or technical post graduate programs*
This FinTech challenge seeks innovative technologies and/or diverse business models that focus on improving consumer value and trust in the delivery of financial sector services.
Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge
Deadline: 2019-06-18Award: $1,650,000
Open to: US residents and businesses*
AI and Deep Learning experts are asked to analyze large health care data sets and develop creative models that will predict unplanned hospital admissions in order to improve quality of patient care.
Geopolitical Forecasting Challenge 2
Deadline: 2019-11-15Award: $250,000
Open to: Everyone*
This challenge is seeking innovative solutions from forecasting enthusiasts, data scientists, computer programmers, and/or economists that take on prediction of geopolitical events with deadlines and locations.
The 3rd Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo
Deadline: 2019-11-15Award: ¥2,000,000
Open to: Everyone*
This contest calls for new applications, such as smartphone apps, Web services and ideas using open data of public transportation and open data from other sources. The goal is to make Tokyo easier to navigate before the 2020 Olympics.
Cultural Innovation International Prize: Internet
Deadline: 2019-12-31Award: €20,000
Open to: Everyone 18+*
This contest is to award innovative projects about the internet that propose actions in areas such as accessibility, security, privacy, ecological impact, ethics, or any other topic that empowers internet users and an improved network.
Developing Predictive Biomarkers of SUDEP
Deadline: 2020-10-10Award: $1,000,000
Open to: Everyone*
Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy affects hundreds of thousands of people living with seizures. This challenge is requesting neurologists to develop specific biomarkers of SUDEP, focusing on the seizures that affect cardiac function.
Alzheimer's Germ Quest
Deadline: 2020-12-31Award: $1,000,000
Open to: Research Scientists*
Billions have been spent on Alzheimer's research, but what if the cause was as simple as a germ? If you're a research scientist and think it's possible the cause of Alzheimer's could be a simple germ this is a great challenge for you.
Fuel from the Sun: Artificial Photosynthesis
Deadline: 2021-01-01Award: €5,000,000
Open to: Everyone*
Synthetic Fuel could be the way of the future! This contest asks you to build a functional prototype that offers just that - an artificial photosynthesis based system able to produce an alternative synthetic fuel.
Low-Cost Space Launch
Deadline: 2021-06-01Award: €10,000,000
Open to: Everyone in an EU Member State*
Using a holistic approach and going further than existing solutions, find a creative and affordable solution which can be easily implemented for launching light satellites into low earth orbit (LEO)
Artificial Intelligence + Origin of Life Prize
Deadline: 2026-11-17Award: $5,000,000
Open to: Everyone legally allowed to participate*
Genetic code experts and evolutionists are invited to help solve the mystery of the Origin of Life. If we can figure out the forces that create and propel life, a revolution in Artificial Intelligence is possible.
* Details may apply. See contest website to confirm eligibility.