As society grows and evolves, innovation grows as well. Challenge.gov uses prize competitions and challenges to support federal agencies' goals of finding innovative solutions to a variety of critical issues in the United States. Learn more about how challenge.gov uses these methods to address the societal needs throughout the country.
What is Challenge.gov?
Known as the "official hub for challenges (prize competitions) across the U.S. federal government," Challenge.gov is a program managed by the General Services Administration and offers advanced infrastructure, hosts interactive learning experiences, develops practical toolkits, and empowers participants.
Prize competitions encourage U.S. government agencies to engage help from the general public to solve a variety of issues. The U.S. government has held over 1,200 prize companies since 2010 and participants have ranged from students to small business owners to researchers. Prize competitions have resulted in things like the initial designs for the U.S. Capitol, Lindbergh's transatlantic flight, and longitude and ship navigation. Prize competitions even played a role in self-driving vehicles!
Find a Challenge!
Challenge.gov has a wide list of active challenges for people to participate in and become public solvers. 
Current active challenges include:
- Energizing Rural Communities Prize
- Develop partnerships and finance plans to support rural or remote energy improvements
- Career Z Challenge
- Expand high school student access to high-quality work based leaning
- Microbattery Design Prize
- Seeking designs for microbatteries with improved performance, safety, and recyclability
- 2023 Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar
- Recognizes solar projects and portfolios that increase equitable access to community solar
- Rural Tech Project
- Create innovative solutions to the implementation of distance learning-enabled, competency-based technology instruction to prepare students for postsecondary education and careers
Challenge.gov Resources
Challenge.gov provides resources for both public innovators and federal innovation managers.
For public innovators, resources include FAQs, user guides, blogs, and case studies. Some blog posts include information about past challenge winners and why government leaders invest in open innovation. The FAQs include information regarding what is challenge.gov and how to create an account. The User Guides offer step-by-step instructions for exploring challenges, engaging with challenges, solver portal, and message center.
For Managers, resources also include user guides, FAQs, toolkits, and case studies. FAQs touch on the role of Challange.gov, accessing manager portals, and prize competitions. The User Guides have instructions for challenge management, manage submissions, and message centers. The toolkit is a large document with information and resources to guide federal employees working on challenges and prizes.
Other Resources
Learn about Challenge.gov's upcoming events.
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