The 4th Annual Innovations Pitch Competition will focus on bright ideas to reduce risk, improve prediction and deliver better healthcare tools for outbreak-prone diseases in low-resource settings.

This year’s competition will highlight tools and methods that will improve two of the most consequential threats to a healthy and sustainable world: resilience in the face of a pandemic and reducing the deleterious impact of climate.

The innovations proposed should be marketable, scalable, and rooted in scientific rigor. Innovations may address, but are not limited to:

• Pandemic solutions including (but not limited to) vaccine acceptance, tracking of vaccine effectiveness, virus variant tracking, quality diagnostics, innovative approaches to prevention of disease spread, and predictive forecasting of emerging threats.
• Identifying and mitigating the direct and indirect effects of climate change and its  consequences of vector-competency, and human and animal health.

Application Information  

Reviewer application deadline extended. Apply here by July 27. (Please note: Reviewers cannot also submit an Innovations application.) 

Innovator applications are due by August 3, 2021 at 11:59 pm U.S. Eastern Time. Please click here to apply. 


Eligibility, Requirements & Additional Information

• Individuals or teams are eligible to apply. 
• Individuals or teams that have applied previously are eligible to apply again.
• Applications must be completed and submitted by the application deadline. Applications that are not fully complete, will be rejected.
• Preference will be given to teams that include an LMIC team member, but at a minimum, demonstrate collaboration with LMIC investigators or are applicable to LMIC settings. 
• Five finalists will be selected for the final presentation round at the Annual Meeting. It is expected that you will present in person or virtually. 
• Format: Each of the five finalists selected will pitch their innovation in a 5-10 minute 'TED Talk' style talk. Finalists may use a single PowerPoint slide that has up to three transitions. 
• A panel of distinguished judges will ask questions of the finalists and will score each finalist based on innovation, impact, approach and ability to deploy the innovation.
• The competition is interactive. The audience will ask questions and will vote through a digital application.
• The judges' scores will count for 60% of the final total; the audience vote will count for 40%.