A team of up to five individuals eligible for the Digital Health Pitch Competition must be led by either a Brown University junior faculty member, postdoctoral graduate, or graduate student (including medical students), or a Lifespan resident physician, fellow, or relevant clinician with a co-appointment at Brown University. Teams must also include representatives from at least two different schools or departments. Teams can consist of one individual or up to five members.

All interested parties are welcome to submit an interest form. Applicants for the final pitch competition must have team members affiliated with Brown University and/or Lifespan. Priority will be given to teams led by junior investigators, medical students, graduate students, residents, fellows, and clinical staff at Lifespan who are new to research and/or digital health.

Please note that pitches will be public. Teams should ensure their pitches are non-confidential. If there are any concerns, please contact Melissa Simon.

• We seek innovative digital applications or platforms to improve population health, public health, and/or health care delivery.
  • Digital applications or platforms include social media, text messages, remote monitoring, wearables, integration of predictive analytics into behavior change interventions, and other novel digital techniques for monitoring, early signal detection, prevention, and intervention to identify, prevent, or treat public health epidemics.
  • We are not looking for medical devices or medical technology innovations (e.g., catheters, examination instruments, surgical instruments, physical therapy aids, etc.)
• All proposed innovations must prioritize meeting the needs of underserved populations or health care delivery systems and providers, with a strong emphasis on health equity.
• Priority will be given to innovations that demonstrate the intention to pursue further external development and dissemination (e.g., commercialization, grant-funded research, dissemination with non-profits, etc.)

Applications will be evaluated by a panel of subject matter experts selected by the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health. Judges will assess the following:

• Unmet Need - How does the proposed solution address the public health challenge?
• Impact - What is the scope of impact the proposed solution offers?
• Health Equity - How does the innovation prioritize health equity?
• Feasibility & Sustainability - What is the feasibility of development and implementation into the marketplace or healthcare ecosystem?

From the final pitches, the winning team(s) will be awarded the following prizes:

• Financial award of up to $25,000 in seed funding, which can be used in flexible ways to accelerate the success of their ideas, innovations, and commercialization objectives. Funds will be set up as a grant award and distributed to the team's department within Brown or Lifespan. If there are multiple affiliations within one team, the team must select which department will receive the award.
• Ongoing mentorship from CDH Leadership Faculty and/or Advisory Board members who will provide a minimum of quarterly check-ins for one calendar year following the pitch.