Case Studies in Resilience: A Future Shocks Challenge Grant Competition

Blog Co-Authors: Joseph P. Mitchell, Director of Strategic Initiatives & International Programs, National Academy of Public Administration, Cristina Caballe Fuguet, Vice President, Global Public Sector IBM, and Dave Zaharchuk, Research Director, Thought Leadership, IBM Institute for Business Value.

In addition to humanitarian and geopolitical impacts, natural disasters—including destructive wildfires, floods, and severe storms—have battered various regions, displacing communities and straining emergency response systems. These events underscore the pressing need for robust strategies to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to such multifaceted shocks.  To help government move forward, the National Academy of Public Administration, IBM Center for the Business of Government, and IBM Institute for Business Value are announcing a new and second round of the Future Shocks Challenge Grant competition.

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.

In 2024, the IBM Center for The Business of Government, in partnership with the IBM Institute for Business Value and the National Academy of Public Administration, launched the inaugural Future Shocks Challenge Grant competition. This initiative sought real-world examples of governments and ecosystem partners implementing strategies to enhance mission resilience and readiness for disruptive events. The response brought significant insights forward, culminating in the publication of "Resilience in Action: Crisis Leadership through Innovation, Collaboration, and Human-Centered Solutions," which presents four case studies from around the world demonstrating how innovative strategies and strong partnerships can enhance preparedness and response. A second publication with additional cases is forthcoming.

Building on this success, we are pleased to announce the second round of the Future Shocks Challenge Grant competition. We encourage reading the inaugural report to gain insights into effective resilience strategies, and invite applicants to nominate stories of innovation.

This year's competition continues to focus on case studies within five key domains: emergency preparedness and response, cybersecurity, supply chain, sustainability, and workforce development. (Learn more about our future shocks initiative).

We are particularly interested in case studies which include innovative applications of technology that have already been piloted or implemented since 2023. Submissions should focus on solutions from international, U.S. federal, state, or local government organizations.

The Challenge Grant will award $1,000 to each winner to produce essays for publication.

The Challenge Grant process is straightforward:

• Stage One: Submit one or more proposals presenting a real-world example. Deadline for the proposals is April 25, 2025.

• Stage Two: The National Academy of Public Administration, the IBM Center, and the Institute for Business Value 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. We will announce the winning proposals by June 13, 2025.

• Stage Three: The winners of the Challenge Grant will prepare their essays for publication by the IBM Center. The 1,500-word essays will be due to the Center by August 1, 2025.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Note: If an award is made, the case study will be published and shared. Per our past practices, government employees are unable to receive funding but are welcome to apply