The Harvard Innovation Lab will kick off a competition that will award innovative solutions in the fields of healthcare and the life sciences. The event will be held October 14, 2014.
The Health and Life Sciences Challenge is currently seeking teams of students and affiliates to enter for a chance at the $50 thousand grand prize. This year’s contest features two new focus areas.
“With every year, we try to reevaluate what topics speak to different populations at Harvard,” said Alice Ly, assistant director for Health and Sciences at the i-Lab. “The new topics this year are prevention and safety [and] health information technology and wearable technology, which many students have unique ideas about.”
Some participants in the challenge will likely arrive with fully-developed ideas, but others will choose their project at the event.
“We have a number of networking events; in November, the pitch mix-and-match event is an opportunity for members of all challenges to see all of the awesome ideas happening around the University,” Ly said. “You can come with an idea without the technical background and connect with people to help further your project.”
One hundred sixty community members and counting have already RSVPed to the event.
Joseph B. Lassiter III, professor of management practice at the Business School, emphasized the accessibility of the event to students at Harvard College.
The Challenge, which launched in 2012, will be co-chaired by Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of Harvard Medical School, and Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School.
It is featured as one of four Deans’ challenges, with other topics centering on cultural entrepreneurship, food systems, and innovation in sports.