A global competition. A world of good.
Which innovation stands to improve the lives of those affected by diabetes? You decide. Voting begins March 23, 2018.
The goal of the Diabetes Innovation Challenge is to:
the most promising
innovations in diabetes
with a special interest in
type 1 / insulin-
dependent diabetes
them to a robust network
of funders, investors, and
partners from academia,
industry, and government
and nonprofit organizations
the top innovations
from the competition
with cash and
in-kind support
Call for Applications OPEN
Call for Applications CLOSED
Application Review by Panel of Experts
Semi-finalists Announced
People’s Choice Public Voting Open
Finalists Announced
Public Voting Ends
Pitch-off for Finalists at a Live Event
Winners Announced
The Diabetes Innovation Challenge is a worldwide search to
IDENTIFY the most promising innovators in diabetes,
INTRODUCE them to a robust network of funders, investors, and partners
AWARD top innovations with cash and in-kind support
For the past three months, the Diabetes Innovation Challenge has been inviting inventors and entrepreneurs who have novel solutions that address the care, treatment and management of diabetes (types 1 or 2) and diabetic complications to enter this competition. The response has been overwhelming and expert judges are currently reviewing many applications and narrowing them down to a field of semi-finalists.
This competition helps all applicants get exposure and visibility for their product – and may help them make important connections that can help them move their product to the next stage of development.
Challenge Semi-finalists get increased exposure – they may become finalists and compete for large cash prizes and in-kind awards. They may also become a People’s Choice Winner – but that depends on YOUR VOTE!
Register at Diabetes.InnovationChallenge.com.
Often times, people who live with diabetes or love someone who does have a different view of what might be a novel or life-changing treatment.
Your vote gives you a voice to tell experts what treatments and solutions are meaningful to you.
The People’s Choice Winner is the applicant whose product/solution gets the most votes during the voting period (March 16 – May 19th). The applicant who wins the People’s Choice Award gets an automatic spot in the Finals event – a live pitch-off in front of a ballroom filled with expert judges and many professionals and patient advocates from industry, academia and non-profits/foundations.
The People’s Choice Winner will get to showcase their solution during this event and make important connections that can help them get to the next stage of product development.
In the 2016 Diabetes Innovation Challenge, Sproutel was chosen as the People’s Choice Winner. Their product – a teaching teddy bear tool for children with type 1 diabetes – got tremendous exposure and made important connections to help them expand distribution for this teaching tool.
The 2018 Diabetes Innovation Challenge will award the following prizes
1st place
Cash prize with up to $150,000 in in-kind services!
2nd place
Cash prize with up to $50,000 in in-kind services!
3rd place
Cash prize with up to $25,000 in in-kind services!
The People’s Choice Award is given to the applicant who receives the most votes during public voting.
This was born from a need we recognized throughout all aspects of our work – the need to find, support and accelerate new ideas that will become the next decade of innovation to improve life for people living with diabetes.
From an impressive field of over 60 inspiring applicants, 30 companies were selected as semi-finalists and 6 were chosen as Challenge winners. One organization received the People’s Choice award.
1st place: Integrated Medical (Irvine, CA) Fully-integrated, low cost, implantable, wireless, continuous glucose monitoring platform.
2nd place: – Glyscend (Baltimore, MD) Orally-administered intestinal coating which mimics the therapeutic benefits of bariatric surgery on type 2 diabetes.
3rd place: – WindGap Medical (Somerville, MA) Autoinjector that automates the rehydration and administration of lyophilized drugs, such as glucagon.
1st – Enable Biosciences (San Francisco, CA) Ultrasensitive non-radioactive autoantibody test that can be readily used for population screening.
2nd – Admetsys (Boston, MA) Artificial pancreas system specifically for the needs of diabetics in-hospital.
3rd – Polyphotonix (Durham, UK) Non-invasive, low cost diabetic retinopathy mask that can be used by the patient in their own home while asleep.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE Sproutel (Providence, RI) The teddy bear teaching tool
What did our 2016 Challenge applicants have to say?
academic or for-profit
seeking to develop new and novel approaches to improve the care, treatment or management of diabetes and its complications.
You are a good fit for this Challenge if you are an individual or team working in academic, research, or commercial setting and have an innovative product or solution in diabetes in one of the following categories:
Yes. You can enter as an individual or team working in academic, research, or commercial setting and have an innovative product or solution in diabetes. There is a $25 fee to submit your application.
You or your team leader need to complete and submit all the application materials before the deadline on February 16, 6pm EST. There is a $25 fee to submit your application.
You need to register on our online platform, complete an online questionnaire, and upload required documentation.
Yes, you may revise your submission content (online form and uploaded files) at any time until the deadline of February 16, 2016 at 6pm EST.
Applicants chosen to participate in semifinals will have one more opportunity to revise their application based on expert critique.
The Diabetes Innovation Challenge 2018 is offering $250,000 in cash and in-kind services split among three winners:
1st place will receive $50,000 in cash and $100,000 in in-kind services
2nd place will receive $25,000 in cash and $50,000 in-kind services
3rd place will receive $10,000 in cash and $25,000 in-kind services
People’s Choice award given to the application that receives the most votes during the public voting period. The award for this will be increased visibility for your solution…and the respect and admiration of your peers!
A team of industry and subject-matter experts from within T1D Exchange , our sponsors and partners will evaluate each entry and select 30 to compete in the Semi-Finals events.
Judges will be selected to judge the semi-finals round and will choose 10 finalists to compete in the finals event.
For the final round, finalists will pitch their solution during a live event to a new panel of judges.
For example, some titles and affiliations of judges from the 2016 Diabetes Innovation Challenge included
In 2018, our applicants can expect a very high quality panel of judges with deep and relevant subject matter expertise.
There is a public voting period from March 16 – May19 2018.
Voting opens on March 16, 9 AM EST.
When voting begins, the video pitches and short overviews provided by the finalists will be shared publicly for the People’s Choice Award.
The solution with the highest number of votes at the end of May 19, 2018 at 5 PM will receive the People’s Choice Award.
Anyone can vote and you can vote for as many teams as you want during the public voting period from March 16 – May 19, 2018. Every voter will have to register with a valid name and social media account (LinkedIn, Facebook or Google), in order to log in to cast their vote.
At the end of the challenge your solution will still belong to you and your team. You will have hopefully made some new connections or perhaps even won cash and in-kind services – all of which can help you advance your solution!
For more information, check terms and conditions.
If your entry does not meet the submission requirements, violates the terms and conditions, contain inappropriate content, or if you or your team did not provide appropriate proof of eligibility, your submission will be disqualified. You will not receive notice of disqualification until the end of the submission process.
If you have any question or doubts about what is acceptable please review the terms and conditions.
If you still have a question, please contact us at Challenge@t1dexchange.org
Semifinalists will be announced on March 16, 2018.
Winners will be announced on May 21, 2018.
Semifinalists will be contacted via email.
Winners will be chosen at the conclusion of the live event on May 21, 2018
T1D Exchange is excited to partner with leading organizations committed to providing finding, supporting and accelerating the next generation of innovation in diabetes. This Challenge is only possible through their generous support!
T1D Exchange was founded on the belief that people affected by type 1 diabetes need better solutions faster – better treatments and better care.
Our nonprofit organization takes an innovative approach that puts the community of people touched by type 1 diabetes at the center of research that will meaningfully impact their lives.
Our integrated research model offers researchers access to aggregated clinical, biological, patient-reported outcomes and electronic health record data, all while fostering collaboration among patients, physicians, researchers and industry. Our model is multi-faceted and complex, but our goal is simple: to tangibly improve outcomes for people with type 1 diabetes as fast as humanly possible.
The submission period has started for this phase.
If you change, add or remove elements from this entry form, previously submitted entries will be altered.
Please be sure to communicate these changes to your participants, so they can unsubmit their entries and edit them if necessary.