Federal-wide NOIS3 contract will provide solutions through multiple crowdsourcing tools and methodologies.

Luminary Labs is one of 25 contractors selected for the third iteration of NASA’s Open Innovation Services contract (NOIS3), managed by NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The federal-wide NOIS3 contract will provide solutions through multiple crowdsourcing tools and methodologies, which include public prize competitions, freelance tasking, technology searches, and other crowd-based methods.

“We’re honored to continue our work with NASA, demonstrating the proven value of thoughtfully designed open innovation programs,” said Luminary Labs Founding Partner and CEO Sara Holoubek. “As AI expands the global solver base and accelerates innovation capabilities, open innovation becomes even more powerful as a flexible, adaptable approach to breakthrough problem-solving. We’re thrilled to help NASA and other federal agencies harness these emerging possibilities.”

To date, Luminary Labs has been tasked with designing and producing open innovation programs on behalf of public, private, and nonprofit organizations, representing more than $350 million in potential incentives for accelerating effective, scalable solutions. Luminary Labs first collaborated with the NASA Tournament Lab (NTL), part of NASA CoECI, in 2015. The company’s portfolio of NTL engagements includes high-impact programs addressing a range of health, science, technology, and infrastructure problems:

• MagQuest (2019-present). The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s multiyear, multiphase, multimillion-dollar competition is accelerating novel approaches to geomagnetic data collection for the World Magnetic Model, which supports navigation for smartphones, commercial airlines, the military, and more. Now in Phase 4bc, teams are currently building, integrating, and testing their solutions, in anticipation of launch in 2026.
• LymeX Diagnostics Prize (2022-present). A public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation launched the $10+ million competition to accelerate the development of Lyme disease diagnostics. Phase 4, sponsored by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, invites seven teams to execute their clinical validation plans and complete regulatory submissions to the Food and Drug Administration.
• Neuromod Prize (2022-present). The National Institutes of Health’s $9.8 million competition is accelerating the development of targeted neuromodulation therapies. Now in Phase 3, four teams are conducting IDE-enabling studies using diverse approaches to stimulate a range of targets, including the spinal, sacral, pelvic, and vagus nerves.
• Lead Detect Prize (2023-2024). A $1 million challenge, on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, enhanced testing for lead in children. The prize catalyzed a portfolio of novel solutions: Five Phase 2 teams showcased their development of advanced point-of-care blood lead tests at a Demo Day in October 2024.
• KidneyX Artificial Kidney Prize (2020-2021). A public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Society of Nephrology accelerated the development of artificial kidneys toward human clinical trials. Phase 1 awarded $650,000 to six innovators enabling and advancing the functionality, effectiveness, and/or reliability of artificial kidneys.
• Opioid Detection Challenge (2019). The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s $1.55 million competition developed rapid, nonintrusive detection tools to help find illicit opioids in international mail. After the challenge, winning teams advanced and implemented their solutions through follow-on agreements with government agencies.
• Ready for Rescue (2018). The U.S. Coast Guard’s $255,000 prize competition identified affordable, practical solutions for finding people in the water and improving the chances of a successful rescue. Following the challenge, the government worked with some of the finalists to help them navigate the commercial market, and one of the finalist teams sent its technology to space.
• Hidden Signals Challenge (2017-2018). The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s $300,000 challenge used existing data sources to detect biothreats in real time. After the challenge, one winning team contributed to research on COVID-19 symptoms and pandemic response.

These programs demonstrate the catalytic power of government-sponsored open innovation to stimulate markets, enable public-private partnerships, and accelerate solutions from concept to deployment. The scale and complexity of challenges has grown with each contract iteration, reflecting the maturation of open innovation as a viable method for addressing critical government needs.

“Open innovation isn’t new, but it’s exceptionally flexible and adaptable — making this a particularly powerful moment to open up problem-solving in new ways,” said Partner and President Janna Gilbert. “Our expertise lies in designing nontraditional incentive mechanisms that deliver faster, smarter, outcomes-based results by mobilizing global communities to solve some of the world’s most complex challenges.”

NASA’s CoECI provides guidance on open innovation initiatives, helping define challenges and requirements and formulating and evaluating potential solutions. The center’s end-to-end service allows NASA and other federal agencies to rapidly experiment with new methods and solve critical problems through innovation and collaboration. In addition to NOIS3, Luminary Labs serves federal agencies through several other government contract vehicles, including the recently awarded OASIS+ Small Business contract, GSA Multiple Award Schedule, U.S. Department of Education Experimental Design and Advanced Research Projects Accelerator (ED ARPA), and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Other Transaction Prize Vehicle.