2021 Fall COVID-19 Technology Series

Deadline: Fall of 2021

The COVID-19 Sprint Series seeks to address both established and emerging technical challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, particularly with the ability to facilitate and accelerate the “return to normal”. Sponsored Sprints under this Series will seek innovations across broad ranging sectors including biomedical, healthcare, hospitality, travel, personal care and more.

Detection technologies for identification of SARS-CoV-2 from environmental samples

On behalf of a coalition of industry and government sponsors, TechConnect is seeking immediate responses demonstrating technologies which can rapidly identify SARS-CoV-2 from environmental samples, including air, hard surfaces, and more. Of particular interest are sampling and detection paradigms to rapidly identify the presence of SARS-CoV-2 with in situ testing and reporting. Ideal solutions will provide or enable an easily implemented test with the potential for use in commercial applications that informs customer, employee, and public health professionals about prevalence of virus. Solutions from organizations of all types are invited, including academia, research, startups, small-to-medium enterprise and more.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Top technologies will be considered for both current and future development, funding, licensing and acquisition Opportunities by TechConnect’s diverse cross-section of Sprint sponsors, including frontline organizations and their partners. Certain top technologies will also be featured in an upcoming COVID-19 Innovation Opportunity Report which will be promoted across all of TechConnect’s corporate, agency and investment partners.

WHY ARE WE RUNNING THIS SPRINT?

Rapid, efficient, and effective detection of the COVID-19 causing agent, SARS-CoV-2, is essential in order to establish where safe spaces exist, and in parallel to identify potentially hazardous spaces. This is especially true for crowded and/or confined environments where space is at a premium and social distancing is challenging (e.g. cruise ships, military barracks, etc.) or where proper ventilation could be challenging. The ability to identify viral agents in the air or on hard surfaces will help identify the presence and spread of disease and provide avenues of virus detection beyond diagnosis of disease in individuals. The ability to detect virus in environmental samples also provides a further understanding of geographic hotspots and spread, an advantage critical in such close environments where spread can magnify and advance extremely rapidly.

REQUIREMENTS

TechConnect invites any and all responses describing novel detection technologies to identify SARS-CoV-2 from environmental samples, including air, hard surfaces, and more. Technologies with the ability to meet or exceed the operating parameters described below are of significant interest. Solutions which cannot yet meet the detection parameters, but which can describe or demonstrate a near-term (less than 6 months) timeline to meeting these efficacy requirements are also of considerable interest.

DETECTION PARAMETERS

Parameter	Objective	Threshold
Speed	Final result within 30 minutes	Final result within 60 minutes
Positive Predictive Value	>98%	>95%
Negative Predictive Value	>98%	>95%

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

TechConnect is seeking partners from all industries and disciplines to propose solutions, including, but not limited to:

Systems with direct collections and separation of particles coupled with rapid identification of target
Detection of antigen, antibody, nucleic acid, or whole virus
Collection of air samples via easily implemented methods such as:
- Air concentrators
- Filter collectors
- Impingers
- Cyclonic collections
Collection of samples on hard surfaces via easily implemented methods such as:
- Swabs
- Wipes
- Liquids
- Fabric

NOTE: Any and all potential technologies that can be used to create potential solutions are of interest for this Sprint. The examples provided do not indicate front running technology or preferences in any way.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

All Submissions must include a completed Submission Webform (link). Submit only NON-CONFIDENTIAL information.

Within the Submission Webform your Entry should address the Problem Statement through the following:

A non-confidential summary of your technology or innovation, including any technical data and details on performance as it applies to the Problem Statement
Value proposition and (potential) commercial impact
Development status and readiness level
Development and scale-up pathway (if available)
Intellectual property position
Funding and award status (if applicable)
Type of partnership or commercial relationship sought with Innovation Seekers
Company or organizational profile
Contact, team and organizational information

Respondents are also invited to upload one (1) supplemental file (max. size 10MB) containing their unique technology pitch, presentation or white paper summary.

EVALUATION

TechConnect and the members of its COVID-19 coalition will review all submissions within 4-6 weeks of the Submission Deadline. Based on the nature of the innovation and strength of the response relative to all submissions received, top innovators may be selected for further discussions, pitches or proposals which may lead to contractual or commercial engagements for the research, development or commercialization of the most promising technologies.

Diagnostic technologies for identification of SARS-CoV-2 from human nasal, buccal, or saliva samples

On behalf of a coalition of industry and government sponsors, TechConnect is seeking immediate responses demonstrating technologies which can rapidly identify asymptomatic COVID-19 patients from easy to obtain samples, such as saliva and buccal swabs. Of particular interest are rapid point of care diagnostics that utilize a sample type that can be obtained by an individual without medical expertise and easily read either through visual examination or an easily accessible third party such as a smartphone-enabled app. Ideal solutions will provide or enable a low-cost, easily implemented test with the potential for home/remote use, similar to existing commercial diagnostics such as pregnancy tests or in-field diagnostics such as drugs-of-abuse tests. Solutions from organizations of all types are invited, including academia, research, start-ups, small-to-medium enterprise and more.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

WHY ARE WE RUNNING THIS SPRINT?

Rapid, efficient, and effective diagnosis of the COVID-19 causing agent, SARS-CoV-2, is essential to curb transmission of the disease. Since people are infectious while still asymptomatic, rapid point of care testing and delivery of diagnostic results will accelerate quarantining decision-making for health officials as well as the responsible individual, and further improve data regarding prevalence, spread, and recurrence of disease instances.

The FDA has issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for in vitro diagnostics (IVD) in molecular diagnostics (224), antigen-based diagnostics (7), and serology diagnostics (60). A closer look at the existing solution sets identifies needs in easily implemented, visually-read tests (either by the individual or a third party such as a smartphone app) that can process samples that are easy to self-administer such as a nasal swab, buccal swab, or saliva. Thus, the goal of this Sprint is to accelerate new solutions to fill this technological gap.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

TechConnect invites any and all responses describing novel diagnostics and diagnostic technologies to identify SARS-CoV-2 from human nasal, buccal, or saliva samples. Technologies with the ability to meet or exceed the operating parameters described below are of significant interest. Solutions which cannot yet meet the diagnostic parameters, but which can describe or demonstrate a near-term (less than 6 months) timeline to meeting these efficacy requirements are also of considerable interest.

DIAGNOSTIC PARAMETERS

Parameter	Objective	Threshold
Speed	Final result within 30 minutes	Final result within 60 minutes
Positive Predictive Value	>98%	>95%
Negative Predictive Value	>98%	>95%

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

TechConnect is seeking partners from all industries and disciplines to propose solutions. Lateral flow assays with an antigen-based test are of obvious interest, but should not be viewed as the exclusive pathway to a solution. Any and all novel potential technologies that can be used to create a unique diagnostics solution are of interest for this Sprint.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

All Submissions must include a completed Submission Webform (link). Submit only NON-CONFIDENTIAL information.

Within the Submission Webform your Entry should address the Problem Statement through the following:

Contact, team and organizational information

A non-confidential summary of your technology or innovation, including any technical data and details on performance as it applies to the Problem Statement

Value proposition and (potential) commercial impact

Development status and readiness level

Development and scale-up pathway (if available)

Intellectual property position

Funding and award status (if applicable)

Type of partnership or commercial relationship sought with Innovation Seekers

Company or organizational profile

Technologies for improved delivery of supplemental oxygen

On behalf of a coalition of industry and government sponsors, TechConnect is seeking immediate responses demonstrating technologies which can improve the delivery of oxygen therapy or supplemental oxygen in home use and other non-intensive care environments. Responses to this Sprint may describe technological enhancements to address a range of factors that limit currently available oxygen delivery solutions, such as system portability, oxygen flow rate, monitoring, and delivery system autonomy. Solutions from organizations of all types are invited, including academia, research, start-ups, small-to-medium enterprise and more.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

WHY ARE WE RUNNING THIS SPRINT?

Many of the primary and most debilitating symptoms of COVID-19 are respiratory in nature, ranging from mild shortness of breath to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms beyond the course of initial infection and recovery have been shown in certain cases to last from weeks to months or longer. For many recovering COVID-19 patients, the availability of reliable, effective oxygen treatment technologies may represent a critical component to maintaining stable quality of life.

Current evidence suggests that home oxygen therapy technologies and other options for supplemental oxygen treatment are currently insufficient to meet the complexity of demand. Issues exist with regards to both form and function of existing systems, such as:

Lack of portability of many existing oxygen delivery systems
Insufficient flow rate / oxygen density delivered
Lack of autonomous, self-adjusting or easily self-managed oxygen delivery systems
Lack of effective, affordable sensors for monitoring patients and devices

The goal of this Sprint is to accelerate new solutions to fill these glaring technological gaps, by identifying innovations that can transform the future of supplemental oxygen delivery, including devices, materials, designs, processes, power systems, hardware and software.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

TechConnect invites any and all responses describing innovations to drive the next generation of oxygen delivery technologies. This includes innovations that will address areas such as lightweight and small footprint technologies, improved capacity, physiological sensors for physical activity and breathing, predictors of oxygen desaturation, and/or innovations for more precise, intelligent and tunable oxygen delivery in home-use/self-managed environments (including autonomous systems).

TechConnect is seeking partners from all industries and disciplines to propose solutions. Any and all novel potential technologies that can be used to create oxygen delivery solutions are of interest for this Sprint.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

All Submissions must include a completed Submission Webform (link). Submit only NON-CONFIDENTIAL information.

Within the Submission Webform your Entry should address the Problem Statement through the following:

A non-confidential summary of your technology or innovation, including any technical data and details on performance as it applies to the Problem Statement
Value proposition and (potential) commercial impact
Development status and readiness level
Development and scale-up pathway (if available)
Intellectual property position
Funding and award status (if applicable)
Type of partnership or commercial relationship sought with Innovation Seekers
Company or organizational profile
Contact, team and organizational information

Respondents are also invited to upload one (1) supplemental file (max. size 10MB) containing their unique technology pitch, presentation or white paper summary.

EVALUATION

CLOSED