The Commandant's Strategic Plan 2018-2022 calls for the Coast Guard to “be bold, think anew, integrate new capabilities, challenge the status quo, and innovate how we conduct operations and provide related support.” This strong call to action challenges the Coast Guard workforce to be more creative than ever before, in order to make our service more ready, relevant, and responsive.
Each year, the Coast Guard celebrates this creativity through the Captain Niels P. Thompson Innovation Awards, recognizing the most impactful innovations across the Coast Guard enterprise.
The Coast Guard Innovation Council will vote to determine winners in six categories:
- Science or Technology
- Operations or Readiness
- Administration, Training or Support
- Culture Change
- Coast Guard Auxiliary Achievement
- The Cmdr. Joel Magnussen Innovation Award for Management
Nominations can be submitted through a challenge on the Coast Guard’s crowd-sourcing platform, CG_Ideas@Work. All Coast Guard active duty, reserve, civilian, and auxiliary members are eligible to submit nominations. Nominations should identify the innovative solution as well as summarize the background/need for the solution in 250 words or less.
The final day to submit nominations is Jan. 31, 2021. To submit an idea; you must be registered on CG_Ideas@Work using your Coast Guard email address. If you are not registered, join the more than 12,000 Coast Guard members already using the crowdsourcing platform.
Please contact Innovation@uscg.mil for any questions.
Information about last year's winners can be found here: