The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has officially opened the doors for its Permitting Innovators program, unveiling a Call for Solutions to implement measures to modernize and streamline federal environmental reviews and permitting processes. The Permitting Innovation Center (PIC) will host an informational webinar on May 14 outlining further details on the program timeline, submission process and Expo details.
Private companies – including technology companies, startups, researchers and non-profits – have until June 2 to submit concepts for strengthening the American environmental review and permitting systems. The program is the direct result of the federal government’s efforts to overhaul how these systems currently function, spurred by the executive order “Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century” issued on April 15, 2025.
The executive order founded the PIC, which will conduct and oversee the Permitting Innovators initiative. By coordinating with private companies, the PIC will enact widespread reform within the government’s permitting processes. These changes will help streamline permitting, accelerate environmental reviews and remove delays that stagnate growth and security across the nation.
The Permitting Innovators program will prioritize incorporating cutting-edge technologies to modernize and unify existing environmental review and permitting systems. Currently, these processes are isolated, fragmented, antiquated and manual – reducing their overall efficacy and efficiency.
Private companies invited to participate will pitch technology solutions to address these persistent issues. The program will prioritize solutions that solve:
- Business process modernization.
- Workflow automation.
- Digital-first documents.
- Tools that support timeline predictability.
A panel of experts will invite up to 50 solutions with the highest evaluation scores to the upcoming Permitting Innovators Expo in July 2026. These companies will deliver a presentation demonstrating their solutions and set up potential partnerships with government agencies. These solutions will also be featured in the Permitting Innovators Solutions Catalog. The document will serve as a reference point for agencies to analyze and compare solutions throughout implementation of the Permitting Technology Action Plan.
Photo by Wenhan Cheng from Pixabay
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