RISE Resilience Innovations invites startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses to apply for the Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge 2026 — a $500,000 innovation challenge designed to fund and pilot real-world resilience solutions in communities across the Blue Ridge region of Virginia. Apply before March 20, 2026!
THE Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge 2026 is a competitive innovation program launched by RISE to identify, fund and pilot solutions that meet multi-risk resilience in real community contexts.
Rather than treating disasters as isolated events, the Challenge is designed to support solutions that:
- Work through several dangers and phases (preparation, response, recovery)
- To strenghten regional coordination and shared situational awareness
- Operate under staffing, connectivity and limited resource constraints
- Deliver measurable economic, social and environmental value
Building on lessons learned from the river community resilience challenges of RISE 2024 and 2025, this year’s program offers solutions. from application to actionensuring that funded innovations are tested where they matter most: on the ground.
Why Community Resilience Matters in the Blue Ridge Region
Communities across Blue Ridge Region of Virginia are increasingly exposed to compound dangers — where flooding, extreme precipitation, landslides, debris flows, heat and wind occur together rather than in isolation.
Recent storms and flooding in southwest Virginia have highlighted how these overlapping risks can overwhelm local infrastructure, strain emergency response capacity, and complicate long-term recovery.
These challenges are intensified by real world constraints faced by many rural and mountain communities, including:
- Limited staffing and emergency management capacity
- Aging infrastructure and fragmented tools
- Communications degraded during disasters
- Complex coordination between agencies and jurisdictions
As climate risks increase in frequency and severity, resilience must go beyond responses to a single hazard and instead focus on integrated system level solutions that help communities function under pressure – before, during and after disasters.
Why should you apply?
Teams selected from among Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge will pilot their solutions in real Blue Ridge communitiesworking directly with regional partners and stakeholders. Beyond funding, the Challenge offers a rare opportunity to validate solutions in real conditions.
Benefits for selected teams include:
- Non-dilutive financing from a pool of $500,000
- Participation in the Resilience innovation accelerator
- Real-world pilot deployments in community test beds
- Practical regulatory, permitting and technical support
- Ongoing feedback practitioners and community partners
RISE can finance several teams depending on the quality and relevance of the solution, with potential for additional support at later stages.
Key Challenge Areas
RISE seeks solutions that can be piloted, validated, and scaled throughout the Blue Ridge region. Applicants may address one or more of the following priority areas:
1. Recovery of resilience after an event
After floods, landslides and winds, communities face urgent needs related to debris removal, slope stabilization and landscape remediation. Delays or ineffective recovery may increase future risks and prolong economic disruption.
Solutions may include:
- Safe and Effective Debris Removal Systems
- Landscape remediation and slope stabilization technologies
- Debris Flow Mitigation Approaches
- Recovery logistics and post-event remediation tools
2. Integrated resilience solutions
Fragmented data, tools and communications can significantly limit the effectiveness of responses to compound risk events. RISE research integrated platforms and systems which improve coordination between agencies and jurisdictions.
Solution areas include:
- Situational awareness and decision support platforms
- Integrated data, communications and operational tools
- Systems that operate during degraded connectivity
- Interagency coordination and response technologies
3. The case for the value of regional resilience
Investments in resilience are often narrowly evaluated based on losses avoided. This challenge also seeks frameworks that capture the broader economic, social and environmental value of resilience.
Potential solutions include:
- Resilience and ROI Value Frameworks
- Measures that support smarter planning and financing decisions
- Tools that link resilience investments to long-term community benefits
Challenge timeline and key dates
THE Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge follows a structured, multi-step journey from application to real-world implementation:
- January 30, 2026: Launch of the challenge and opening of applications
- March 20, 2026 (2 p.m. EDT): Deadline for submission of applications
- April 6, 2026: Announcement of the selection of semi-finalists
- April 20, 2026: Deadline for submission of documents for semi-finalists (technical details, implementation plan and financial information)
- April 27, 2026: Presentations of the semi-finalists’ pitches to the selection committee
- May 4, 2026: Announcement of the selection of finalists
- June 3, 2026: Execution of finalist award agreements
- July 2026: Launch of the resilience innovation accelerator and project implementation phase
- Mid-September 2026: Progress and implementation presentations from finalists
- October 2026: Announcement of winners and awarding of prizes
Build on a history of success
Founded in 2016, RISE Resilience Innovations works to identify, fund and scale solutions to the most pressing challenges facing flood and disaster-prone communities.
To date, RISE has:
- Reward more than 10 million dollars in financing
- Received More than 400 submissions innovators in 30 countries
- Supported More than 45 concrete pilot projects
- Helped businesses grow more than $48 million and create 180+ jobs
RISE’s work focuses on practical innovationcommunity partnerships and solutions that produce measurable resilience results.
Ready to pilot your resilience solution?
If you create a solution that can operate under real-world constraints, strengthen regional coordination, and create value before, during, and after disasters, the Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge 2026 is your opportunity to move from concept to community impact.
Ready to bring real change to communities where it matters most? Check all the details and apply today!
__________
Sharing is caring!