Prize Challenge Winners - Central Florida Tech Grove

Past Prize Challenge Winners

Great Challenges.
Memorable Wins.

Explore our past prize challenges and the people who took the top spots.

Autonomous Control of Invasive Species

HQMC, DARPA, SERDP/ESTCP - SEPT 2026

Autonomous Control of Invasive Species

Controlling Guam's Brown Tree Snakes through advanced technology.

Conservation X Labs

1st Place Winner - $250,000

University of Guam

2nd Place Winner - $200,000

Aerisys Group Corporation

3rd Place Winner - $100,000

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SERDP/ESTCP - August 2026

3D Surface Fuels & Vegetation Modeling

Advancing high-resolution 3D fuel and vegetation mapping to support wildfire prediction and prescribed fire planning.

Societal Community and Innovation Lab (SCIL) - UC San Diego

1st Place Winner - $40,000

Broadcast 3D- Susan Prichard

2nd Place Winner - $25,000

CTrees.org

3rd Place Winner - $20,100

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3D Surface Fuels & Vegetation Modeling

Wildland Fire Safety Equipment

SERDP/ESTCP - July 2026

Wildland Fire Safety Equipment

Improving firefighter protection, health, and endurance through innovative protective equipment and field safety systems.

Redline Safety Inc.

1st Place Winner - $40,000

Terasynth

2nd Place Winner - $25,000

Obsidian Solutions Group

3rd Place Winner - $20,100

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SERDP/ESTCP - June 2026

Autonomous Ground VEhicles

Moving firefighting equipment and supplies across difficult terrain with autonomous ground systems.

Terasynth

1st Place Winner - $40,000

MVP Robotics, Inc.

2nd Place Winner - $25,000

Goodman Technologies

3rd Place Winner - $20,100

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Autonomous Ground Vehicles

AR/VR Fire Training

SERDP/ESTCP - Sept 2025

AR/VR Fire Training

Enhancing firefighter training, situational awareness, and operational efficiency through high-efficiency AR/VR modeling tools, accelerated simulation code, and real-time immersive environments.

Johnson Lab- University of Montana

1st Place Winner - $70,000

SciVista Inc.

2nd Place Winner - $50,000

Obsidian Solutions Group

3rd Place Winner - $30,000

SERDP/ESTCP - May 2025

Wildland Fire Equipment

Improving firefighter safety, situational awareness, and operational efficiency through autonomous systems, advanced sensors, and immersive simulation tools.

HDT Expeditionary Systems

1st Place Winner - $85,000

Terasynth

2nd Place Winner - $55,000

Paradigm Robotics

3rd Place Winner - $30,000

Wildland Fire Equipment

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) Hazardous Situations

NAWCTSD - Aug 2025

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) Hazardous Situations

Developing extended reality training prototypes to deliver immersive hazard refresher scenarios and enhance shipyard emergency readiness.

Mass Virtual

1st Place Winner - $75,000

Heizenrader LLC

2nd Place Winner - $55,000

Inhance Digital Corp.

3rd Place Winner - $40,000

NAWCTSD - Dec 2024

AI ENABLED ACQUISITION

Leveraging AI and machine learning tools to automate manual pre-award workflows and accelerate proposal evaluation timelines.

Hazel AI Technologies, Inc.

1st Place Winner - $70,000

Deloitte Consulting LLC

2nd Place Winner - $55,000

Authorium

3rd Place Winner - $35,00

AI ENABLED ACQUISITION

The AI-native Approach for the Immersive Technology Planning App (ITPA)

AFAMS- Sept 2024

The AI-native Approach for the Immersive Technology Planning App (ITPA)

Accelerating USAF training development and decision-making through an AI-native ITPA prototype that automates immersive technology scanning and evaluation.

iPerformX

1st Place Winner - $70,000

Terasynth

2nd Place Winner - $50,000

Microsoft Federal

3rd Place Winner - $35,000

NAWCSTSD - NOV 2024

Surface Warfare Combat Training Continuum prize challenge

Digitizing shipboard training evaluation and data analytics to optimize Surface Warfare Combat Training Continuum readiness and performance modeling.

Adaptive Immersive

1st Place Winner - $60,000

4C North America

2nd Place Winner - $45,000

Nighthawk Cyber

3rd Place Winner - $30,000

Surface Warfare Combat Training Continuum prize challenge

Ready Relevant Learning Prize Challenge (RRL)

NAWCTSD - Dec 2023

Ready Relevant Learning Prize Challenge (RRL)

Automating instructional system design analysis through AI large language models to accelerate Navy training development and enhance fleet readiness.

Aptima

1st Place Winner - $70,000

VPS, A V2X Company

2nd Place Winner - $55,000

Metris Global

3rd Place Winner - $35,000

PEO STRI - Aug 2023

Live, Virtual Constructive (LVC) Interoperability Configuration Management Tool

Improving distributed LVC training reliability, system interoperability, and exercise readiness through automated configuration querying and verification tools.