The IDea Incubator provides the opportunity for applicants to receive feedback from judges in the business, technology, and medicine industries and gives applicants the opportunity to present their idea in front of the ID Community at IDWeek 2024.

A winner from each of the following categories will be awarded and compete for the Innovator of the Year award at IDWeek 2024.

2024 Award Categories

Innovation In Patient Care and Practice Award

The IDSA Innovation for Patient Care and Practice award recognizes groundbreaking contributions to the field of infectious diseases, specifically focusing on advancements that directly enhance patient care and clinical practice. 

Applicants for this award should showcase innovations that have the potential to impact patient outcomes, healthcare delivery, and overall public health tangibly and positively. This can encompass a wide range of achievements, including but not limited to novel therapeutic approaches, prevention strategies, or interventions that can measurably elevate and improve the standard of care for infectious diseases.

Innovation In Technology and Telehealth Award

The IDSA Innovation in Technology Advancement and Telehealth Practice award recognizes groundbreaking contributions to the field of infectious diseases, specifically focusing  on outstanding innovations that have demonstrated exceptional creativity, efficacy, and adaptability in utilizing technology and telehealth practices to address the challenges posed by infectious diseases.

Applicants for this award should showcase innovations that have made a substantial impact on the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, or management of infectious diseases through the integration of cutting-edge technologies and telehealth solutions. This could include breakthroughs in data analytics, artificial intelligence, telemedicine platforms, remote monitoring tools, and other technological advancements that enhance the efficiency and accessibility of infectious diseases care.

MTEC Diagnostic Technologies for Unknown Pathogen Identification Award

The IDSA MTEC Diagnostic Technologies for Unknown Pathogen Identification Award recognizes groundbreaking contributions to the field of infectious diseases, specifically focusing on advancements of pathogen-agnostic diagnostics of unknown pathogens.

Infectious diseases remain an enduring military threat and as such pose a significant risk to the operational effectiveness of current and future forces. Rapid detection and identification of infectious diseases is essential to selecting and applying appropriate countermeasures and allows better planning and infectious disease prevention responses. Pathogen-agnostic diagnostics are an appealing solution to address a broad range of infectious disease threats and to prepare against future outbreaks of novel infectious diseases. Such diagnostics seek to detect a wide range of microorganisms, namely pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and fungi in tandem. In principle, a truly agnostic diagnostic could even detect the presence of such pathogens de novo, without being limited by an established knowledge base.

As pathogen-agnostic diagnostics of unknown pathogens begin to mature in the clinical setting, translation of these methodologies into a point-of-care instrument or far-forward setting is instrumental. Operational readiness requires that these technologies be appropriate for remote and isolated areas in difficult environmental conditions.

Applicants for this award should showcase innovations that have the potential to impact the diagnosis of pathogens in highly communicable bacterial and viral diseases, multi-drug resistant organisms, or vector-borne diseases.

Competition Rules: 

• IDea Incubator is open to both IDSA members and non-members.
• Any group, company or organization that applies, must have at least one IDWeek 2024 attendee. This attendee must be the primary submitter and includes scientific attendees, exhibitors, invited speakers, and guests. 
• All applications will be reviewed by committee to choose the category winners. 
• Category winners will be asked to create a pitch video for the people’s choice award winning idea and to present their innovation at the IDea Incubator Live Event at IDWeek 2024.

Awards:

• Each individual category winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000. This award is determined by the IDea Incubator review panel. 
• The Innovator of the year award will receive a cash prize of $5,000 as well as an Accelerator Package with access to start-up coaching that will provide guidance for launching or scaling their innovation, setting up legal protections, budgeting and marketing. This award is determined by the judging panel at the live IDea Incubator award event.
  
• The People’s Choice Award winner will be awarded to the video with the most popular votes and will receive an award as well as additional promotion of their award through IDSA communication channels. This award is determined by the most votes received for the pitch videos.

The IDSA Foundation and its affiliates are not responsible for any intellectual property submitted and/or presented through the IDea Incubator. Any individual, group, organization, or company is solely responsible for securing intellectual property protection. 

Please use this link to view a blank application form.