Digitizing Utilities Prize
Help electric utilities tackle data challenges to advance reliability, resilience, and affordable operation with the Digitizing Utilities Prize!
The $1.1 million Digitizing Utilities Prize—launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity—aims to connect utilities with interdisciplinary teams of software developers and data experts to transform digital systems in the energy sector through data analytics, processing, quality assurance, storage, and deletion.
Prize Background
Recent technical advancements in the electronic industry have enabled utilities to collect more data than ever before, challenging traditional methods of data acquisition, use, and storage. Meanwhile, the market for big data analytics products and related services for the utility industry is limited, with only modest electricity domain expertise. Electric sector stakeholders are facing an emerging challenge to capitalize on large data sets while improving reliability, cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency, operations, planning, and asset and outage management.
The Digitizing Utilities Prize supports competitors as they work directly with utility partners to develop software solutions through two phases: Plan and Progress. This approach will drive accelerated development of the most promising ideas.
Phase 1 - Plan
Teams of developers (e.g., software developers, automation engineers, data scientists) formed robust teams to solve one of the utility issues presented. On March 9, the Office of Electricity selected three teams from each track—nine in total—to receive a $75,000 cash prize and advance to Phase 2 of the competition. These Phase 1 winning teams are:
- Occam.ai (Seattle, WA)
- Cadmus (Waynesboro, VA)
- Missouri University (Rolla, MO)
- Red Hawks (Chattanooga, TN)
- ScaLaDe Team (Princeton, NJ)
- Automatility (Cary, NC)
- Electrify USA (Riverside CA)
- Moonshot (Gillette, WY)
- The Sun Team (Orlando, FL)
Phase 2 - Progress
Phase 1 winning teams will work with the utility partners over six months to implement their proposed solution by developing a software solution that addresses the issues presented by the utilities. Teams must also demonstrate how their methods and process could be utilized by other utilities in the future. Up to four winners of Phase 2 will receive a portion of the $425,000 total cash prize pool.
For more information, including complete eligibility requirements, please review the official prize rules.
Solutions that help shape the future
Are you a thinker, entrepreneur, facility or potential partner? Anyone with an innovative idea can help promote transformation by participating in the American-Made Challenges.
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