NSC Announces 2026 Work to Zero Safety Innovation Challenge Semifinalists

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Safety Council announced 10 semifinalists for the 2026 Work to Zero Safety Innovation Challenge, an annual competition spotlighting emerging technologies designed to prevent serious workplace incidents and fatalities.

Hosted by the NSC Work to Zero initiative and run in collaboration with TechConnect, a division of Advanced Technology International, this year’s challenge focuses on solutions that address workplace fatigue. Fatigue is an often overlooked safety risk that impairs judgment, slows reaction time and increases the likelihood of mistakes. Research shows that working a 12-hour shift increases the risk of injury by 37%. 

“Fatigue is a serious and underrecognized risk factor across many industries,” said Dr. Matt Law, director of Work to Zero at NSC. “When workers are exhausted, the risk of life-altering or fatal incidents rises. This year’s semifinalists represent innovative solutions that can help employers identify fatigue and take action before incidents occur.”

This year’s semifinalists include: 

• Design Interactive: Greenlight is a mobile-based fatigue monitoring system integrating wearable and smartphone data to support safer performance in high-risk environments
• electrocore, Inc.: TAC-STIM is a handheld device that stimulates the vagus nerve to reduce fatigue and improve attention and decision making
• Impairment Science Inc.: DRUID is a mobile app using neuroscience-based tests to assess cognitive and motor impairment for fit-for-duty screening
• Innsightful, Inc.: A wearable-enabled platform that continuously tracks physiological indicators to quantify workplace exhaustion and deliver real-time interventions
• MakuSafe Wearable Tech: A wearable and analytics platform that detects and predicts fatigue-related strain through motion sensing and environmental monitoring
• Predictive Safety SRP, Inc.: AlertMeter and AlertMeter FRMS assess worker alertness and provide predictive fatigue risk management tools
• Pulsar Informatics: Fatigue Meter is a predictive analytics platform originally developed from NASA technology that integrates wearable data, sleep tracking and alertness assessments
• SmartTec Inc.: Okaya is an AI-driven platform that extracts digital biomarkers from brief video check-ins to detect fatigue in real time
• SOBEREYE Inc.: OPTOVERA is a smartphone-based assessment that measures how eyes respond to light to help determine fitness for duty 
• Vocadian: A predictive voice AI solution that analyzes voice biomarkers and circadian science to forecast fatigue risk in safety-critical roles

Each semifinalist will present its solution in the Safety Technology Pavilion at the NSC Safety Summit. Conference attendees will vote to determine the top three finalists, who will advance to the Learning Lab before the Summit’s closing keynote session on May 8. The winner of the Challenge will be announced at the conclusion of the Learning Lab Expo Session. 

All semifinalists are also eligible to participate in the Work to Zero Pilot Grant Program, which helps organizations test these technologies in workplace settings. Applications are now open. The program will award up to $60,000 in total funding, with individual grants available for up to $20,000.  

In partnership with the McElhattan Foundation, Work to Zero aims to eliminate workplace fatalities through technology. To learn more, visit nsc.org/worktozero or register for the NSC Safety Summit.

About the National Safety Council
The National Safety Council is America’s leading nonprofit safety advocate – and has been for over 110 years. As a mission-based organization, we work to eliminate the leading causes of preventable death and injury, focusing our efforts on the workplace and roadways. We create a culture of safety to not only keep people safer at work, but also beyond the workplace so they can live their fullest lives.

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