Ideas Challenge Advanced Research Projects Agency - Infrastructure.

Build America's transportation future - submit bold ideas to ARPA-I's Ideas Challenge and transform how we move, build, and connect!

Now accepting applications until September 17, 2025

Submit Your Ideas Now at Challenge.gov

ARPA-I Ideas and Innovation Challenge Stage 1 Webinar

Aug 20, 2025 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

USDOT will host a public webinar to discuss the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Infrastructure (ARPA-I) Ideas and Innovation Challenge ("Ideas Challenge"), a $1M prize competition with two stages. This webinar will include an overview of Stage 1 of the Challenge, eligibility to participate, technical considerations, prizes, and other topics.

Sign up

 

ARPA-I's $1 Million Prize Competition

Stage 1

Submit a Concept Paper with your breakthrough transportation ideas. Up to 15 winners will be awarded $20,000 each for a total of $300,000 in prizes.

Stage 2

Winners from Stage 1 submit full R&D project proposals for a chance to win one of five prizes that total a further $700,000. More details on Stage 2 coming soon.

 

The total value of all Stage 1 and Stage 2 prizes awarded will be a maximum of $1,000,000.

 

ARPA-I's Strategic Thrust Areas

Knowledge

Tools that allow infrastructure operators to understand everything they need to know about their transportation infrastructure systems.

Construction

Constructing infrastructure safer, faster, more cost-effectively, and with a longer lifespan.

Optimization

Optimizing the movement of people and goods at scale in real time to radically increase system safety, enhance performance, and decrease costs, leveraging connectivity and automation.

Enabling and Foundational Technologies

Enabling and other foundational technologies that create the basis for future technologies.

Other ARPA-I Programs and Projects

 

INSIGHTS

The Infrastructure Systems Insights through Geospatial-sensing for Holistic Transportation Solutions (INSIGHTS) project is ARPA-I's first step towards enabling development of practical, cost-effective, continuously updated digital models of America's infrastructure at scale, including streets, highways, ports, rail lines, airports, and pipelines.

ARPA-I INSIGHTS

X-BRIDGE

The ARPA-I eXceptional Bridges through Innovative Design and Groundbreaking Engineering (X-BRIDGE) program is focused on creating transformative materials, designs, and construction techniques that can deliver bridges at half the cost, in half the time, and with twice the lifespan.

ARPA-I X-BRIDGE
 

What Are the Heilmeier Questions?

At ARPA-I, we leverage the Heilmeier Catechism to assess and think through proposed research programs.

  1. What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
  2. How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
  3. What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
  4. Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?
  5. What are the risks?
  6. How much will it cost?
  7. How long will it take?
  8. What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?
 

Excited to Apply?

Visit our Challenge.gov site for authoritative resources on how to apply, details of prizes, and timeline.

Visit Challenge.gov to get started

Send your questions to ideas.ARPA-I@dot.gov.