The White House Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ, has launched the Permitting Innovators program aimed at accelerating federal environmental reviews and permitting processes by engaging private sector technology providers. The White House’s push to modernize permitting through initiatives like Permitting Innovators reflects a broader governmentwide focus on digital modernization and public-private collaboration. These themes will take center stage at the 2026 Digital Transformation Summit on April 22, where leaders will discuss mission engineering, the use of AI in federal environments and other emerging capabilities and trends. Register now! The White House said Wednesday CEQ’s Permitting Innovation Center worked with
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is soliciting ideas for a program that seeks to develop artificial intelligence tools meant to improve adult learning of complex subjects needed for national security such as cyber defense and AI engineering.
DARPA said Thursday the AI Tools for Adult Learning program seeks to come up with AI technologies that could provide tailored learning experiences to improve skills development among adults who have finished postsecondary education.
“In addition to a post-pandemic economy, the need to improve access to education and upskilling for historically marginalized learners is more important than ever. AI tutoring could dramatically improve learning success, particularly in increasingly common remote and self-directed learning environments,” said Joshua Elliott, AI Tools for Adult Learning program manager at DARPA’s Information Innovation Office.
The agency is asking technologists, digital learning tech developers, researchers and other interested stakeholders to submit proposal abstracts through Dec. 18.
DARPA officials and industry experts will assess the submitted abstracts and pick a subset of proposers that will move to the second phase and then review the proposals for technical merit. With the third phase, the finalists will present their concepts before a panel.
DARPA will award $750,000 in total funding to winners to further develop their concepts.
The agency will host an info session on Nov. 10 to provide interested participants information on the program.
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