Clear® Announces $500,000 Innovation Prize for Airport Security Technology to Speed Throughput; Clear to Purchase New Technology for Lanes

Clear’s mission is to increase the capacity of the security checkpoints at which we operate, thereby providing consistently faster passage through the checkpoints for members of our program.  Our efforts result in shorter lines and waits for non-members, too, because our lanes absorb a disproportionate share of travelers.  We accomplish this by making the process more efficient while enhancing security. 

How do we do this? We look at the airport pre-board security checkpoint process from the earliest stages of identity checking to the often-overlooked area of re-vesting and clearing beyond the checkpoint. We rely on practical experience, detailed management analysis and innovative technology approaches to process improvement. We focus on keeping the core experience as free as possible from hassle – such as having to remove shoes, outer garments, or laptops. Thus, we are constantly searching for technical solutions and innovative management processes to transform how the world thinks about the security checkpoint.

Now, we have decided to crystallize that ongoing effort around the $500,000 “Clear Prize” – which will be awarded to the first team that can install, at our expense, a real world security checkpoint at a Clear lane that meets the following criteria:

1. Achieves acceptance by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for deployment at Clear lanes as providing the same or better security than the current Registered Traveler checkpoint process.
2. Reduces inconvenience by, for example, allowing for no divesting of shoes, outer garments, or any other item approved for carry-on aboard a US commercial flight, and thereby achieves an increase in throughput of 15% or more.
3. Is compact enough to be deployed at security checkpoints in at least three Clear airports.
4. Is deployed and can be operated at a cost (including capital costs amortized over five years) of less than 25 cents per passenger screened when working at full capacity.

We will also encourage the prize winner, if it is a corporation, to give the cash award to the members of the team that creates the prize-winning solution.

In addition to the $500,000 prize, Clear will commit to a contract for the capital investment and operating costs necessary to deploy the winning checkpoint at every Clear checkpoint where the solution is accepted for installation by the airport and the TSA.

The “Clear Prize” Advisory Panel, consisting of chief technology officers and/or security directors of several of the leading airports and airlines that have partnered with Clear, will assist us.