Prize Question

How can technology-driven solutions enable communities in the United States to prepare for, respond to and recover from weather-related disasters, ensuring resilience for vulnerable communities?

Prize Overview

We are seeing an increase in the frequency and severity of weather-related disasters across the United States. Along with the devastation and loss extreme weather events like wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and heat waves cause to families, these disasters also cost the United States nearly $200 billion annually in recovery and relief efforts. Further, disasters cause major disruptions to local economies, services, and infrastructure, disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities. For this Prize, vulnerable communities are defined as households that fall at or below their state’s median household income level.

Technology and innovation play a key role in strengthening community resilience. From early warning systems and resilient infrastructure to emergency response coordination using tools like 5G, and long-term adaptation strategies, scalable solutions are essential in protecting residents, livelihoods, and ecosystems.

The 2025 Verizon Disaster Resilience Prize seeks exceptional solutions that strengthen disaster resilience in the United States. The Verizon Disaster Resilience Prize has a particular interest in solutions that:

• Enhance early warning systems and disaster preparedness

• Improve emergency response and resource coordination

• Strengthen infrastructure and protect vulnerable communities

• Support long-term recovery and community resilience after weather-related disasters

• Solutions can be for-profit, nonprofit and hybrid companies. The following institutions are not eligible to apply:

  • Government entities

  • Employees, officers and directors of Verizon Corporate Services Group Inc. (“Verizon” or "Sponsor") and its parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, dealers, agents, advertising and promotion agencies, and vendors (who are related to the administration of the Prize)

  • Employees, faculty, administrators, and other staff members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

• Solutions must be enabled by technology. This Prize is especially interested in cutting edge technologies that enable connectivity, including systems driven by Artificial Intelligence, including Machine Learning, or The Internet of Things, Smart Infrastructure, 5G communication networks, and hardware solutions such as drones and robotics.

• Organizations must be registered in the contiguous United States, either with current deployment operations in the US or near-term plans to deploy solutions in the US. This Prize will not consider organizations that are solely operating in Alaska, Hawaii, or US Territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands).

• Solutions must have at least four full time employees (FTEs).

• Applications must be written in English.

The Prize considers solutions at various stages of development – specifically, solutions that range from pilot to scale phase. Concept and prototype stage solutions will not be considered for this Prize.