The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) have launched a crowdsourcing competition called “Power of the Passengers Challenge."

TSA screens millions of passengers each year at 440 federalized airports. Beyond its responsibility for securing airport locations in the United States, TSA also oversees other security obligations, such as inspecting foreign airports with flights departing to the United States, inspecting billions of tons of cargo annually, and securing more than 4,000 maritime ports and terminals and more than 610,000 bridges.

The combined domestic and international efforts of TSA both utilizes and generates large amounts of logistical, operational, and security data. In keeping with the mission and vision of the agency, TSA seeks to harness new approaches and innovations.

TSA and NTL, with the help of TechConnect Ventures, launched the campaign to solicit new ways to increase security outcomes and operations capabilities, according to Dan McCoy, chief innovation officer, Transportation Security Administration. “Through this challenge we’re trying to learn how passengers, innovators, and others think of the future of travel. By engaging the crowd TSA hopes to uncover new concepts, technologies, designs, and procedures that improve security, efficiency, and experience,” he said.

The TSA is interested in responses from innovators, organizations and the public. The competition ends January 28, 2021 and TechConnect Ventures will award a total of $215,000 to be split between one grand prize winner and ten focus area winners.

Response from teams are also welcome for this challenge provided that the individual submitting the response is a citizen of the United States. Responses from teams are also welcome for this Challenge, provided that the designated primary contact for the team submits the response and is a citizen of the United States.