The CTO Challenge is a federal competition aimed at accelerating development of the Talent Marketplace. It focuses on three key additions: A Skills Wallet, a Credential Registry, and AI-powered job matching capabilities. Together, these components would place Georgia's CTAE (Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education) credentials onto a national, interoperable platform, making them recognizable and verifiable across states and employers.​

CTO does not define Georgia's Career Navigator, but it funds and accelerates the required components that constitute the working definition of a talent marketplace.​

  • Georgia is 1 of 10 winning states, as a 2026 semi-finalist. ​

  • $100k phase I prize award​

  • $1.4M phase II application ~November 2026​

There are three core components:

  1. Credential Registry- A statewide, common skills language for degrees, certificates, apprenticeships, and stackable credentials – already well underway through Credential Engine. It asserts the skills a holder verifiably possesses. 

  2. Skills Wallet- A learner-owned, portable wallet holding credentials, assessments, skills, resume content, test scores, and work products – broader than a resume. It carries the skills a learner already holds. 

  3. Skills-Based Job Description Generator- The employer-facing side of the marketplace, translating critical positions into the skills that matter most for the role. It states the skills an employer requires.​​​ ​​

 

The semifinalists are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. 

Connecting Talent to Opportunity