The Department of Homeland Security‘s Science and Technology Directorate is inviting scientists to take part in a competition seeking respirators to protect individuals from aerosolized chemical, biological and radiological threats.
Participants of the $250K Escape Respirator Challenge would submit concepts for the technology that addresses the limits of existing escape hoods, DHS said Thursday. Three finalists of the challenge’s first phase will each receive up to $50,000 to materialize their respective concepts, and then compete for a grand cash prize of $100K under a succeeding demonstration phase.
“Through this challenge, we are reaching out to the scientific community for innovative compact design solutions that will eventually help people evacuate from toxic or smoke-filled environments,†said William Bryan, senior official performing the duties of the DHS undersecretary for S&T.
Registrations for participation are due by April 11, 2019, and applications by May 30, 2019.
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