Eligibility & Rules

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

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
Wiggio Platform: Each team must join the Wiggio platform and create a Wiggio group for their team. Team leaders must join the CAI Startup Challenge group

Age: Each Challenge Team member must be 18 years old or older

Location: Team members can be located anywhere in the world

Affiliation: No Challenge Team member may be employed by the United States government, Avon Foundation (AF) or The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI). Employees, officers, directors, representatives, and vendors or any company involved in promotion, administration or fulfillment relating to the Challenge and their immediate family members and persons living in their same household are not eligible to participate in the Challenge

University Participation: At least three members of each Challenge Team must be enrolled as active graduate or undergraduate students in a University, or, alternatively, can be a post-doc or medical student in residency
Mentors/Advisors: Members of the team may participate as mentors/advisors and represent the disciplines outlined below; there are NO maximum number of mentors/advisors. It must be very clear how any identified mentors/advisors will contribute to the success of the Challenge Team and also what specific commitment they have to the Challenge Team in terms of hours of consultation, ability to evaluate for seed funding, etc.
Collaborator: Organization that agrees to help support the team by; these include but are not limited to: seed funding organization, service companies (e.g., legal, financial, etc.)

Disciplines: All teams must have at a minimum the following four disciplines represented:

Legal: can be in law school or have already earned a degree. Several areas of legal knowledge may be useful; these include but are not limited to: ability to evaluate IP, branding evaluation, negotiating licenses etc.
Business: can be pursuing an MBA, studying business as an undergraduate or come from the business community
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
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 company and has three years or more experience in a start-up
One person may represent a maximum of two disciplines
The Core Team, Mentors, Advisors, and Collaborators may all represent any of the four discipline requirements
Additional disciplines are required for the following inventions: Invention #1 and #3. Invention #1 requires a computer science discipline; invention #3 requires an engineering discipline

Team Members: Challenge Team members can be from the University faculty, University Technology Transfer, University alumni, the team can be from different universities and can also include business leaders in the community. Additional members can be anyone who the team believes will help them be successful as long as they adhere to the eligibility requirements and rules outlined in this Challenge

Size: Each Challenge Team must have a minimum of three members; there is no maximum team size

Role: Each member of the Challenge Team should have a defined role

Names: For Wiggio group names and for required documents we require teams to stick to 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

Submission Requirements and Timing

In order for a Submission to be eligible to win in this Challenge, it must be provided based on the due dates outlined below:

Provide deliverables during the phases of this Challenge by their due date provided below. Please note: All dates are subject to change at the sole discretion of AF or CAI. Notifications will be made two weeks prior to any date changes

Letter of Intent (LOI) phase: The Challenge will begin officially on October 1st, 2013 with the letter of intent phase. Acceptable LOIs will be approved on a rolling basis. LOIs will no longer be accepted when the CAI has received approximately 10 acceptable LOIs per invention. No LOIs will be accepted or approved after 8pm Eastern Time on November 29th, 2013. Final communication to prospective participants will be performed by December 4th, 2013. CAI will record the number of LOIs that have been accepted on the invention page of this web site. Please look here
Business plan phase: The business plan phase will begin for each Challenge Team as they are accepted into the Challenge. The latest start date for the business plan phase is December 2nd, 2013. Business plan documentation/deliverables are due on February 3rd, 2014. Final pitches are due February 13th, 2014. Award decisions will be made by February 19th, 2014
Start-up phase: The start-up phase will begin on February 20th, 2014. The target end date is September 23rd, 2014. Challenge teams are encouraged to finish all deliverables as soon as possible. More guidance will be provided during the course of the start-up phase of the Challenge

Challenge Deliverable Requirements

Breast Cancer Focus: While some inventions in this Challenge can be applied to indications other than Breast Cancer, all deliverables must represent a clear focus on how the invention will create new biomedical solutions in Breast Cancer. Additional focus on other indications is welcome

OVERALL: All Challenge Team members (including mentors/adivsors) must complete a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) as well as a Prize Allocation document to enter the Challenge; please find copies of these forms here

Deliverables by Phase

Phase 1 - LOI:

Team member information with resumes and rationale for team members selected
Entrepreneur selection
Invention selection
Statement of intent to participate

Phase 2 - Business Plan – estimated 20 pages PPT and Word (not including appendices)

10 page business plan with dilutive/non-dilutive funders or potential licensees. Alternatively, a business model canvas may be created
1 minute "elevator speech" pitch video (recorded and posted on YouTube)
5 minute virtual pitch with a pitch deck that has a maximum length of 10 pages

Phase 3 - Start-up:

Start-up company incorporation
Start-up licensing application per the NIH start-up licensing agreement or for invention #3 licensing agreement from the Clemson University Research Foundation
Documentation preparation for dilutive/non-dilutive funding
Management team selection and Board of Advisors selection
Commercialization plan
Development plan
Regulatory strategy

Additional Information:

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 AF, National Cancer Institute (NCI) or CAI
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 agree to a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) provided as part of the LOI 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. AF, NCI and CAI collectively reserves the right to disqualify any applicant

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, NCI and 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

In the case of Federal grantees, Challenge Teams may not use federal funds to develop submissions for this Challenge unless permitted under the terms of their grant award

In the case of Federal contractors, Challenge teams may not use federal funds from a contract to develop submissions for this Challenge or to fund efforts in support of this Challenge

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, AF and 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, AF 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

Team Changes: After Challenge Team members are submitted, CAI understands that in some cases, Challenge Teams may augment their team and/or change members of thier team

To add a member to your Challenge Team, click here
If Challenge Team member changes are to the core team or for any members of the team for which there is a mandatory discipline, please inform CAI. New members of the team must be submitted on the LOI AF site. CAI will approve the team change or get back to the Challenge Team with new requirements. If the Challenge Team is unable to fulfill the requirements, they may choose to no longer participate in the Challenge

Challenge Logos/Website:

Challenge Team members agree that they will not use the name or the logo or trademark or other mark of “The National Institutes of Health," "National Cancer Institute," "Avon Foundation" or "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 NCI, AF and/or CAI, as applicable
Not withstanding the foregoing, Challenge Team members agree to acknowledge the support provided by AF and 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 AF and CAI
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 [www.breastcancerstartupchallenge.com]. CAI will not use the logo or link beyond the Challenge website

Additional Information

Challenge SPONSOR: Avon Foundation for Women, 777 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Taxes: You are responsible for all taxes and reporting related to any award you receive as part of the Challenge
General Conditions: AF, NCI and CAI reserve the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify elements of the Challenge, for any reason, at AF, NCI and CAI's joint 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

Privacy Policy: ChallengePost collects personal information from you when you register on Challenge.gov. The information collected is subject to the ChallengePost privacy policy located at www.challengepost.com/privacy
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 AF, NCI or CAI. AF, NCI or CAI may, for example, request that the team:

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
Speak to the media during Challenge-related interviews
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