Ventilator Innovation Competition and Chance to Win CAD 200,000 from Agorize 2020

OPPORTUNITY DETAILS

Total reward

0 $

Nonprofit organization

Agorize

Deadline

31 Mar 2020

Study level

Undergraduate

Opportunity funding

Full funding

Eligible Countries

Algeria , Comoros , Egypt , Jordan , Lebanon , Mauritania , Oman , Qatar , Somalia , Syria , United Arab Emirates , Bahrain , Djibouti , Iraq , Kuwait , Libya , Morocco , Palestine , Saudi Arabia , Sudan , Tunisia , Yemen

Eligible Region

All Regions

The Montreal General Hospital Foundation, in collaboration with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), is launching a global innovation challenge, backed by a $200,000 CAD prize, calling for teams to design a simple, low-cost, easy-to-manufacture and easy-to-maintain ventilator which could be deployed anywhere needed to save lives.

Brief:

The coronavirus known as COVID-19, could infect up to 70% of the population, with as many as about 10% of positive cases need ventilation. There is an acknowledged shortage of medical ventilators worldwide to treat such a large volume of patients and, even in developed economies, there may be a shortage to treat large numbers of patients during outbreak peaks, as has been seen in Italy. The case will likely be direr still in countries with more limited resources and less resilient healthcare systems.

Yet, the wide availability of rapid manufacturing—3D printers, CNC machines—combined with low-cost computers (i.e., your smartphone, Arduino, raspberry pi, etc), offer the possibility of a simple, broadly available ventilator with sufficient performance to get through the COVID-19 crisis.

Leading researchers and medical staff at the Montreal General Hospital have assembled a committee of expert advisors (ICU physicians, engineers etc.) who have defined precise specifications for this ventilator challenge and who will be judging submissions. Final submissions will be tested in the Clinical Innovation Platform at the Montreal General Hospital. The winning design will then be made available for download and production, anywhere in the world.

Eligibility:

This Challenge is open to the large public. Participants must be of legal age.
All the documents that may confirm the Participant’s eligibility will be required prior to awarding any prizes (e.g. identity document, student card, etc.).
This Challenge is open to everyone. If you are related to employees of the sponsor, the affiliated institutions, or any of the judges, advisors, or experts, you MUST disclose this conflict of interest
This Challenge is void in countries where it is prohibited or restricted by law.

Team requirements:

Expertise:

Each team must include at least one relevant medical professional with publicized credentials (proof of right to practice) and one relevant technical/engineering professional with credentials to approve safety requirements.
Each team member must provide a short resume of qualifications relevant to the design (e.g. engineering degree, industry experience, other relevant experience).

Communication:

Each team is responsible for having at least one team representative on Agorize communication platform to answer failure reports and end-user questions.
This should be maintained throughout the contest and beyond, as long as implementation of the device exists for COVID.
Other communication means must be provided and kept up to date for later needs (email etc.) in case of a future crisis.

Capacity and costs:

Each team must have a local capacity to produce, test, and demonstrate the performance of their design in accordance with the specifications.
Costs of design and prototyping are to be covered by the contestants.

Judgment:

The finalists will be chosen by the Agorize panel of judges.
Three designs will be endorsed on April 15^th following validation by the Agorize panel of experts.
The three designs will then be available for download, and Agorize will track the number of verified implementations and feedback on the designs, and determine the most impactful design as the winner, the second as 2^nd prize, and so on.

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