Massachusetts Institute of Technology- MIT Solve seeks technology-based solutions for the 2023 Horizon Prize that decrease carbon footprints in the rare disease healthcare space while cantering patient priorities. MIT Solve seeks innovators and entrepreneurs with the most promising solutions that can participate in this Prize and submit a solution regardless of its development level. Applicants can submit a prototype, scaling program, or product.

Notably, the solution should address the focus of the Horizon Prize 2023. Solutions may narrowly focus on a tech platform or a product innovation focusing on a systems-based solution. MIT Solve encourages people of all backgrounds to submit their applications. Specifically, the Prize seeks a wide variety of solutions that can:

• Improve the rare disease patient diagnostic journey, reducing cost, time, resources, and duplicative travel and testing for caregivers and patients
• Enhance efficiencies in research and clinical trials, including data collection and sharing
• Reduce unnecessary plastics, single-use products, and medical or hazardous waste throughout research and manufacturing
• Produce and endorse alternative packaging that may be reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable without compromising safety or bareness
• Optimize supplies and treatments transportation by addressing shipping inefficiencies, last-mile delivery, and cold storage

Details of the Prize

• Deadline to submit a solution: 23 June 2023
• Finalists announced: 28 July 2023
• Virtual pitch event for finalists: 30 August 2023
• Live pitch event and winner announcement: 19-20 September 2023
• Event Location: Concordia Annual Summit in New York
• Organizer: MIT Solve
• Category: Prize

Prize Amount

USD150,000 prize funding is available for one winning solution team for the 2023 Horizon Prize.

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Who can apply to the Horizon Prize 2023?

Applicants who meet the following criteria can apply for the MIT Solve Horizon Prize 2023:

• Applicants can be an individual, a team, or an organization
• Solutions can be from any organization, including for-profit, non-profit, or hybrid organizations.
• MIT Solve does not provide funds to persons ordinarily resident in Iran, Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Crimea, or Russia or from parties blocked by the US Treasury Department
• The Horizon Prize encourages solutions led by under-represented groups and identities or from those with rare diseases.
• Previous Solve Challenges and Horizon Prize applicants can apply for the 2023 Horizon Prize.
• Winning solutions for the 2021 and 2022 Horizon Prizes are not eligible to apply for the 2023 Prizes.

What type of solutions are eligible?

MIT Solve welcomes early-stage and growth-stage solutions to submit their English applications.

Early-stage solutions include:

• Prototype:A solution or organization testing and building its product, service, or business model. Or for-profit new company getting off the ground has raised little (less than $500,000) or no institutional capital in pre-seed fundraising.
• Pilot:An organization deploying a tested service, product, or business model in at least one community. If the organization is for-profit, it can be a young company struggling to gain traction and has raised not more than $2 million in institutional capital in seed funding.

Growth-stage solutions include:

• Growth:An organization or solution with an established product, service, or business model implemented in one or several communities, ready for further development in multiple communities or countries. If it is for-profit, then it can be an early-stage company with an established track record and is seeking to raise between $2 million to $15 million in institutional capital in a Series A or potentially B round.
• Scale:An organization or solution working in several communities or countries. Companies looking to scale significantly and focusing on increased efficiency can apply. If for-profit, a successful company scales its operations and seeks to raise more than $15 million in institutional capital.

Important Note: All applicants should note that MIT Solve will not review or select Concept-stage solutions in the current year.

Evaluation and Selection Procedure for Submissions

Evaluation of Solutions:

The MIT Solve judging panel for this Challenge includes leaders and rare disease, sustainability, and supply-chain spaces experts. After an initial screening by the Solve staff and community reviewers, the judges will score the reviewed solutions based on the following criteria. Please note that all requirements have equal weight:

• Alignment
• Potential for Impact
• Feasibility
• Innovative Approach
• Human-Cantered Design and Inclusion
• Scalability
• Partnership Potential

Selecting Solutions:

After the deadline for the submission, the judging process begins. After an initial Solve staff and community reviewers screening, judges will select the most promising solutions as finalists. These finalists will receive an invitation to pitch their solutions at two pitch events, where judges will choose the winner.

The first pitch event is a closed virtual session with judges, Horizon, and MIT Solve staff.

The final pitch will be at the 2023 Concordia Annual Summit in New York City on 18-20 September 2023. In this stage, the finalists will have the opportunity to showcase their solutions publicly. They also attend a dinner with judges and the live winner announcement on the Concordia Annual Summit main stage.

How to Submit a Solution?

Please submit your solutions online by entering the link below:

Submit a Solution

Please enter the MIT Solve Website for further details about MIT Solve Horizon Prize 2023 or read the FAQs.

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