Opioid Detection Challenge

Deadline: 2019-04-24
Award: $1,550,000
Open to: US entities and individuals*

The Challenge calls on innovators in a wide range of fields, from forensic science to industrial quality assurance to artificial intelligence, to help disrupt the flow of opioids into the United States by participating in this Challenge. The Challenge seeks novel, automated, nonintrusive, user-friendly and well developed plans for tools and technologies that have the potential to quickly and accurately detect opioids in parcels, without disrupting the flow of mail.

The Opioid Detection Challenge, a multistage open innovation competition, will run from February 2019 through fall 2019 and award up to $1.55 million in cash prizes. Following the conclusion of the Challenge, the government expects to work with selected solvers to develop these prototypes into the next generation of opioid interdiction tools. The government plans to deploy these tools in international mail, express consignment facilities, and other environments across the country that call for rapid, accurate detection of opioids and related substances.