This post first appeared on IBM Business of Government. Read the original article.
Since the turn of the millennium, pandemics, heat waves, wildfires, floods, cyberattacks, supply chain interruptions, and other crises have deeply stressed governments, communities, businesses, and individuals around the world. This cascade of catastrophic events raises fundamental questions about how governments can anticipate, prepare for, and respond to these and other shocks yet to come.
To be announced on 29 April 2024
Shocks transcend geographic, jurisdictional, political,
and organizational boundaries. Furthermore,
adaptation, preparation, and response to shock
events cannot be the responsibility of a single sector,
program, agency, or level of government. Instead, the
key to success—and the root cause of many failures—
lies within the capabilities of individual network
participants and the strength of the network before,
during, and after an upheaval. Simply put, complex
problems cannot be solved in silos.
What practical steps can governments take in the
near term to better prepare for and respond to future
shocks?
The IBM Center for The Business of Government is pleased to announce a Challenge Grant competition to learn of real-world examples of where government organizations have implemented strategies and capabilities that have improved their mission resilience to be “future ready” and prepared to respond to disruptive events. We are interested in case studies within six key domain areas:
emergency preparedness and response, cybersecurity,
supply chain, climate sustainability, workforce
development, and international collaboration. (Learn more about our future shocks initiative). Case studies can be international, U.S. federal, state, or local. We would like to learn about examples that were piloted or implemented between 2022 and 2024.
The Challenge Grant will provide $1,000 for the winners of the competition to produce essays for publication.
The Challenge Grant process is straight forward:
- Stage One: Submit one or more proposals of up to 300 words presenting your real-world example. Schedule: Deadline for the 300-word proposals is June 7, 2024.
- Stage Two: The IBM Center will review proposals and select 10 to 15 finalists who will each be offered a $1,000 Challenge Grant to prepare a longer essay (up to 1,500 words) describing the future shock program. Schedule: The Center will announce the winning proposals by July 1, 2024.
- Stage Three: The winners of the Challenge Grant will prepare their essays for publication by the IBM Center. Schedule: The 1,500-word essays will be due to the Center by August 12, 2024.
Please let us know if you have any questions.