Caterpillar Building the Future Workforce Challenge
Request Ticket // Limit: 1 per School or Department
O. Leal-Neto (Global Health Institute)
Limiting Language
Each Lead Organization may only complete one submission, except as described below. An organization can serve as a partner on a team for multiple applications provided that each application proposes a separate, distinct solution. This means each solution can only be submitted once, and we leave it up to each team to designate their eligible Lead Organization.
Regional or location-specific branches of larger organizations, as well as departments, schools, and nonprofits within or based in a college/university, can each register and submit separately as the Lead Organization on one application. Participants may list both the parent organization and the specific applicant/project in the Lead Organization field on the registration form, such as College/Department (Parent organization) or Parent Organization – Project Name.
In all circumstances described above, the proposed projects must be separate and distinct. There should be no overlap in team members. The intent of the policy is to ensure that any team is concentrating their best effort into a single application. We encourage teams to select a single project that best represents your organization's ability to deliver a solution that meets the scoring criteria.
Summary
As part of the Caterpillar Building the Future Workforce Initiative, Caterpillar has designated $25 million of its $100 million pledge to launch the Building the Future Workforce Challenge. This includes an initial $5 million allocation in year one to support future‑ready training for high‑demand manufacturing and technician roles.
The Building the Future Workforce Challenge welcomes bold ideas from all sectors and regions, awarding up to five teams $1 million each plus the opportunity to implement their transformative solutions in one or more Caterpillar communities and facilities in the United States, Brazil, India, or Mexico over a two‑year project period.
The Caterpillar Building the Future Workforce Challenge seeks bold, sustainable, tech‑forward training solutions that can close today’s—and tomorrow’s—advanced manufacturing and industry technician skill gaps. We’re looking for ideas that can flex with rapid technological change and strengthen the talent pipelines our communities and industry depend on. Eligible nonprofit and for‑profit organizations anywhere in the world are invited to propose solutions that can be implemented in the United States, Brazil, India, or Mexico. Winning solutions will have the opportunity to be implemented in Caterpillar facilities and Caterpillar communities—providing a testing ground for introduction, replication, and scale.
Take our readiness tool to help determine your fit for the challenge, and review our resources and scoring rubric to learn more about solution categories, problem statements, evaluation criteria, how we’ve defined a strong proposal, and more.