OFFICIAL RULES for Challenge Teams
Note: Applicants are required to adhere to all requirements/rules outlined on this page to have valid entries in this Challenge
Challenge Teams, and Start-ups
  • Entering Teams: Only entries that have the intent of creating a startup will be accepted into the Challenge
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible to participate in this Challenge, individuals and Challenge Teams must adhere to the following eligibility requirements:
  • Registration: Each Challenge Team member must execute a Letter of Intent (LOI) and be approved to proceed in the Challenge  
  • Startup Intentions: Only entries that have the intent of creating a startup will be accepted into the Challenge
  • Age: No age restrictions; those under the age of 18 will have to complete a consent form
  • Location: Team members can be located anywhere in the world
  • Team Size: No minimum team size; Team leaders will be tasked with filling their team during Phase I
  • Type of Team: Teams may be formed out of an university, on an individual basis, or from existing startups​
  • Participant Background: Team members can come from any background, including current graduate students, industry, academics, government employees, etc.
  • Team Members: Anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and a drive to positively impact Veteran health can participate. Individuals may enter and build a comprehensive team during the course of Phase I. When putting together your team, please consider the following:
    • Disciplines: We recommend that all teams have at a minimum the following disciplines represented:
      1. Business: can be pursuing an MBA, studying business as an undergraduate or come from the business community
      2. Medical/Scientific: can be in medical school or graduate school, a post-doc, in residency or, alternatively, a medical doctor, graduate with a scientific degree, or someone in the medical/scientific profession working in the Life Sciences industry
      3. Entrepreneurship: our preference is a person who has had experience starting a biomedical company, e.g., therapeutics, vaccine, diagnostics, device or Heath IT organization more than once, e.g., the entrepreneur is a "serial entrepreneur" and has performed the foregoing more than once.  We require that the entrepreneur has founded a Life Sciences, biomedical and/or health IT company; raised dilutive and non-dilutive capital for that company and have exited either successfully or unsuccessfully.  We prefer entrepreneurs that have tenure of at least five years (a minimum of three years) in a start-up and also have had corporate experience
    • Team Changes: please inform [email protected] of any changes to your team, and have them fill the CDA
  • Names: For team names and for required documents, we require teams to follow the guidelines for file naming conventions.  However, we encourage teams to create alternate team names to show their spirit and creativity
  • Original Work: Challenge submissions must be the original work of the Challenge Team. Upon submission, each applicant warrants that he or she is the sole author and owner of the submission that the work is wholly original with the application (or is an improved version of an existing work that the applicant has sufficient rights to use – including the substantial improvement of existing open-source work) and that it does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which applicant is aware. Each applicant warrants further that the Submission is free of malware. Each applicant retains all rights in its Submission
  • Challenge participants may only contact inventors or technology transfer offices through Q&A sessions, hosted by the Center for Advancing Innovation. Any violation of this policy will result in disqualification
Challenge Deliverable Requirements
Veteran health: While some inventions in this Challenge can be applied to various indications, all deliverables must represent a clear focus on how the invention will create new biomedical solutions in addressing health issues affecting US Veterans. 

OVERALL: All Challenge Team members (including mentors/adivsors) must complete a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) and submit their resumes; please find guidance, examples, and links to these forms here

Phase 0 : Entering the Challenge
  1. Invention selection
  2. Entrepreneur selection
  3. Letter of Intent: statement of intent to participate
  4. CDA Form: agree to the Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA)
  5. Resumes: team member information with resumes and rationale for team members selected
  6. Optional Forms: Stakeholder Analysis and Collaborators Form
  7. Note: All Entries must show intent of creating a startup through this Nano Startup Challenge in Cancer.  If your team has no intention of forming a startup, your team may be rejected from entering

Phase 1: Elevator Speech
  1. 2 minute "elevator speech" pitch video 
  2. 350 word executive summary

Phase 2: Business Plan
  1. 10 page business plan with dilutive/non-dilutive funders or potential licensees (appendices are optional as supporting material for your business plan)
  2. Supporting financial model
  3. Pitch deck that has a maximum length of 10 pages
  4. 20 minute virtual pitch via Webinarjam
  5. Optional: Business model Canvas
  6. Optional: Additional Appendices to your business plan

Phase 3: Start-up
  1. Start-up company incorporation
  2. Start-up licensing application
  3. Documentation preparation for dilutive/non-dilutive funding
  4. Management team selection and Board of Advisors selection

Additional Information:
  • All Entries must show intent of creating a startup through this VA Beach Bio Innovation Startup Challenge.  If your team has no intention of forming a startup, your team may be rejected from entering
  • Deliverables submitted must not use any organization logos unless written permission is provided from the organization that owns the logo
  • Deliverables may not state that there is endorsement by CAI
  • Licenses are not guaranteed to teams and their selected invention.  Negotiations will need to occur in order to receive a licensing agreement.
  • One Team Leader will serve as the point of contact for all deliverables and communications (this is in grey in the team leader section of the Core Team Letter of Intent form)
  • The Team Leader must fill out and agree to a CDA form and LOI form on behalf of the entire team. The implication is that the Team Leader must have an agreement amongst team members that he/she is signing on behalf of all team members
Submission Rules
All Submissions must comply with the following rules:
  • The Challenge is void wherever prohibited or restricted by law. CAI collectively reserves the right to disqualify any applicant to the Challenge
  • This Challenge is subject to all applicable United States federal, state and local laws and regulations. Participation constitutes applicant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and Sponsor, CAI decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Challenge. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein
  • By participating in this Challenge, Challenge Team members agree to assume any and all risks and waive claims against the Federal Government and its related entities, CAI, except in the case of willing misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from a Challenge team's participation in this Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise. By participating in this Challenge, Challenge Team members agree to indemnify the Federal Government and CAI against third party claims for damages arising from or related to Challenge activities​
  • Based on the subject matter of the Challenge, the type of work that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the likelihood of any claims for death, bodily injury, or property damage, or loss potentially resulting from Challenge participation, Applicants are not required to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate financial responsibility in order to participate in this Challenge
  • Challenge Logos/Website:  
    1. Challenge Team members agree that they will not use the name or the logo or trademark or other mark of the Challenge Sponsor, "The Center for Advancing Innovation," or any variation, adaptation, or abbreviation thereof, or the name of any of their respective trustees, officers, faculty, students, employees, or agents, or any trademark owned in any advertising or publicity (including but not limited to advertising or publicity on your organization’s website) without first seeking and obtaining the prior written permission of CAI or Challenge sponsor, as applicable
    2. Not withstanding the foregoing, Challenge Team members agree to acknowledge the support provided by CAI in all brochures, website postings, informational and marketing materials, annual reports and publications describing the Challenge programs and activities you have funded or otherwise supported and to use the format agreed upon by the CAI
    3. In addition you agree to allow The Center for Advancing Innovation to post your organization’s logo and a link to your organization’s website on the main Challenge website https://www.innovatevabeach.com. 
Information Sharing
Information sharing is fundamental to the attainment of the Challenge’s goals of collaborative innovation among the Participants. However, information sharing during the time frame of the Challenge is for the limited purpose of creating business plans and live pitches, including commercialization plans, development plans, regulatory strategies, intellectual property strategies and such other deliverables as the Challenge Teams believe are critical for the business plan of the Challenge. Details for the Challenge can be found on the Overview Page.

Accordingly, the Challenge Teams shall only use Confidential Information for the Challenge. In addition, the Challenge Teams will keep all Confidential Information they receive directly or indirectly from any other Participant strictly confidential and, except as permitted herein, shall not disclose, reveal or share any portion of the Confidential Information to or with any individual or entity. 

As used herein, “Confidential Information” means any and all information that is presented or disclosed by a Participant to any other Participant(s) in written, electronic, visual or oral form or in any other tangible medium during meetings, communications, or other information exchanges held in connection with the business plan of the Challenge. Confidential Information shall include, but not be limited to, unpublished data, research results, unpublished proprietary methods, financial/valuation models, business plans, business model canvases, theories, drawings and figures or visual depictions of research data or results regardless of format. Confidential Information also includes anything disclosed by a Participant (the “Disclosing Participant”) to another Participant that the Disclosing Participant marks in writing as “Confidential.”

“Confidential Information” shall not include, and the obligations contained herein shall not extend to, any part of the Confidential Information: (a) that can be demonstrated to have been in the public domain or publicly known at the time of disclosure; (b) that can be demonstrated to have been in the possession of or that can be demonstrated to have been readily available to Signatory from another source prior to the disclosure; (c) that becomes part of the public domain or publicly known by publication or otherwise, not due to any unauthorized act by Signatory; (d) that can be demonstrated as independently developed or acquired by Signatory without reference to or reliance upon such Confidential Information; or (e) that is required to be disclosed by law. 
Additional Information
  • Taxes: You are responsible for all taxes and reporting related to any award you receive as part of the Challenge
  • General Conditions: CAI reserve the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify elements of the Challenge, for any reason, CAI's discretion. Participation in this Challenge constitutes an applicant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by the Challenge's Official Rules found within this webpage
  • Press:  All Challenge Teams, as a condition of participation in the Challenge, will be required to participate in media and press opportunities related to the Challenge at the request of  CAI.  CAI may, for example, request that the team:
    1. Prepare a 100-150 word description of the invention the Team is working on as well as the Team’s commercialization and development strategy that will be made available to media and may be released publicly, either in part or in its entirety
    2. Speak to the media during Challenge-related interviews
    3. Provide quotes and/or content for any Challenge-related press release
  • Participation in media and press opportunities in no way requires Teams to disclose any proprietary or otherwise confidential information related to their businesses. Upon request CAI will provide consultation to any team to avoid such disclosures while participating in press related opportunities
  • CHALLENGE WEBSITE:  The Challenge website will serve as a resource for information about the Challenge, including rules, timelines and contributors. The Challenge website will not be used for fundraising or for the advertising or marketing of non-Challenge related events or activities.  The Challenge website is the sole property of CAI