Eligible organizations are invited to learn more and assess their fit for Building the Future Workforce Challenge.

Before submitting an application, participants must complete registration no later than 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Thursday, July 30, 2026.

Applications will be accepted for just over three weeks after registration has closed. All applications are due no later than 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesday, August 25, 2026.

The Building the Future Workforce Challenge team will review each submission to ensure it complies with application requirements and Rules.

From Wednesday, October 7 to Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time, applicants will score and comment on five other applications from fellow teams using the scoring rubric (scores are normalized for fairness).

Some applicants may be required to score and comment on additional applications. Final peer reviews are due by Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time.

Once Peer-to-Peer Review is complete, the Evaluation Panel will score and provide feedback on their assigned submissions using the scoring rubric (scores are normalized for fairness).

Up to 10 finalists may be featured at CES® 2027, January 6-9, 2027. Finalist attendance in-person at CES® is currently not anticipated, and finalists should expect to collaborate with Caterpillar and its communications agencies to potentially develop videos, demonstrations, marketing materials, and/or other content needed to feature solutions at CES®.

The Selection Committee will recommend up to five awards of $1 million each to Caterpillar and the Building the Future Workforce Challenge team. Awards will be announced in the first quarter of 2027 and the two-year project period (see testing phase info on Resources) is scheduled to start in late Spring 2027 (dates subject to change).