2025 Innovation Award Winners

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 ACT-IAC Innovation Awards. Two categories of awards are presented this year, the Innovation Champion Awards and the Innovation Impact Awards. The Champion Award, ACT-IAC’s highest innovation award, recognizes a revolutionary and game-changing innovation. The Impact Award recognizes an innovation that has made a substantial impact on government missions or operations through the use of technology.

This year’s nominations included innovations that use artificial intelligence and intelligent automation; enabled cybersecurity and IT modernization; and/or delivered impact in management and functional areas to include health care, acquisition, biometrics, talent development, quantum, geospatial analysis, and citizen services. Nominations were submitted by federal, state, and local government agencies and private companies.

The award winners are:

Innovation Champion Awards:

• AQNav: AI and Quantum-powered Magnetic Anomaly-Based Navigation (MagNav), SandboxAQ
• TSA's Touchless Identity Solution (TIS), Transportation Security Administration & ASRC Federal
• Augmented Reality (AR) Incident Commander/Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mentor game, A P Ventures, LLC

Innovation Impact Awards:

• Online Passport Renewal (OPR) system, State Department, Peraton & ManTech
• Multiscale Machine-Learned Modeling Infrastructure (MuMMI) in the Cloud, Accenture
• FEMA Data Exchange Pilot (FEMADex), REI Systems
• The Federal Grant Systems Hub, Department of Health and Human Services & Guidehouse
• Global Entry Portals, Customs and Border Protection & Leidos

All award winners will be recognized at ACT-IAC’s Emerging Technology and Innovation Conference on May 4-6 in Cambridge, MD. The Innovation Champion Award winners will also discuss their innovations as a part of a panel at the conference hosted by Terry Gerton, former NAPA President/CEO and new host of the Federal Drive on Federal News Network.