NHLBI Air You Wear Challenge

This is a US-based competition. International participation is allowed with certain restrictions. 

Please see the complete eligibility requirements here.

Over 1.5 million Americans are prescribed supplemental oxygen for a range of medical conditions. Although there are different options available for how outpatients receive supplemental oxygen, the issues associated with the therapeutic goals and optimal use of home oxygen continue to be assessed and are not considered solved. Patients consistently express concerns around the following issues: having an oxygen supply be lighter and more portable, making it last longer, and ensuring that they get the amount (“flow rate”) that is needed.  

To address these issues, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is sponsoring the Air You Wear Challenge - a two phase challenge with a total prize purse of $500,000. In the first phase, up to 8 innovators with the most compelling ideas will each win $50,000.  Only Phase 1 winners will be invited to participate in Phase 2, and they are strongly encouraged to use their prize money to help develop and demonstrate their technologies in the Phase 2 development period. At the end of Phase 2, the innovators developing the three top-performing prototypes will win $60,000, $30,000, and $10,000 respectively.  In addition to awarding prizes, this challenge will also host an information webinar that is open to everyone and discusses other development opportunities, such as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, in the hopes that all promising ideas will be pursued.

The goal of this challenge is to broadly stimulate research and development of processes and technologies that actively address the different outpatient issues associated with use of supplemental oxygen. If you have actionable ideas for how to improve the portability, flow rate, or duration of home oxygen supplies, we want to hear about them.  

This is a US-based competition. International participation is allowed with certain restrictions. 

Please see the complete eligibility requirements here.

The demographic of those needing supplemental oxygen is much broader and more diverse than many of us may think. Patients can be any age - young or old. They might need long-term supplemental oxygen because they live with severe asthma, a heart condition, or chronic lung disease. Or they might only have temporary needs because they’re recovering from an acute illness, or recovering from a blood clot in the lung, or are living with cancer.  

The goal of supplemental oxygen is to help these people feel better and do more, so that they can live fuller lives. While some patients’ lives are made better by the products available now, many options don’t allow patients to achieve this goal. Heavy, bulky equipment can deter physical activity, and limited battery life or limited oxygen supply can impact whether patients socialize and travel, affecting their mental health and emotional well-being. And some of the products that minimize those issues do not provide the amount of supplemental oxygen many patients need.

Patients who need to plan the logistics of supplemental oxygen so very carefully - from how many cylinders they’ll need to how long the batteries will last - may find it all just too daunting, especially if air travel is required. People, young and old, who need supplemental oxygen are missing out on birthdays, family reunions, weddings, funerals, and other compelling reasons to travel abound. 

People who use supplemental oxygen and their loved ones are anxious for new options that are lighter, more portable, longer-lasting, and capable of providing the required oxygen level (flow-rate). The NIH/NHLBI is sponsoring the Air You Wear Challenge to help teams with compelling ideas to develop and demonstrate proof of concept for their innovative approaches for providing supplemental oxygen to outpatients, while promoting activity in the field and awareness of this problem to the wider community.  We are interested in providing more options to outpatients.  Proposed approaches can be for new devices, modifications to existing technologies, or something else entirely.  If your idea has a scientific basis, will result in something that makes a meaningful difference to people on supplemental oxygen, and can be demonstrated after 7-8 months of development effort, then we want to hear from you! 

This two-phase challenge will award a total prize purse of $500,000. At the end of Phase 1, up to 8 teams of one or more individuals, proposing the most compelling and impactful solutions, will each receive $50,000.  Only Phase 1 winners will be invited to participate in Phase 2, and they are strongly encouraged to use their prize money to help develop a working prototype and/or demonstration of the proposed approach during the Phase 2 development period. At the end of Phase 2, up to three teams will be awarded first, second, and third prizes of $60,000, $30,000, and $10,000 respectively for the best prototypes/demonstrations.

Part of promoting activity in this field of supplemental oxygen for outpatients is providing all participants with information about other development opportunities, such as those afforded through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and the NHLBI Innovation Office. Participants who do not advance through this challenge process are encouraged to pursue some of these other opportunities.  There will be a webinar during this challenge that presents helpful information about these opportunities, including key contacts and support for writing applications.

Phase 1

All eligible parties are invited to participate in Phase 1 (please see the Rules section for full eligibility rules). The deadline to submit your responses is September 14, 2021. The NHLBI is interested in lightweight, portable, oxygen supply technologies that can be easily used and readily incorporated into users’ routine activities. Whatever you propose must be something that can be successfully developed and demonstrated within the 7-month Phase 2 development window.  

Phase 1 submissions should be supported by a strong scientific rationale and any preliminary data available.  These submissions should also include a realistic project plan that contains a reasonable budget and timeline for Phase 2 work.  Finally, key hurdles should be identified and discussed.

Submissions that have passed a pre-screening step - which removes non-responsive and/or incomplete submissions - will be reviewed by the Evaluation Panel. The panel will evaluate the submissions based on their ability to achieve the Phase I evaluation criteria listed below. The panel will select up to eight of the most compelling submissions as Phase 1 winners. Teams submitting winning submissions will each receive a $50,000 award.  A team is one or more individuals collaborating on and submitting a single submission. Winners are strongly encouraged to use the award to support their prototype development efforts as part of their continued participation in Phase 2 of the challenge.

Phase 2

Only Phase 1 winners are eligible to participate in Phase 2.   The Phase 2 development period is 30 weeks long (approximately 7 months).  At the start of the development period, Phase 1 winners will receive their award and will schedule a mid-point check-in with the NHLBI. It is anticipated that these mid-point check-ins will occur in May/June 2022. In addition to prize money won from Phase 1, Phase 2 teams will also have up to 15 hours of access to subject matter experts (SMEs). During Phase 2, teams may request time with an SME to ask for advice or seek specific information. The experts will be drawn from the NHLBI or NIH in general, depending on the specific expertise required by a team, and will be matched as closely as possible in terms of relevant expertise (recognizing that there is likely to be variation in the ability to match SMEs to specific questions due to the nature of the questions, availability of SMEs, etc).  During the mid-point check-in, each team will review with the NHLBI their progress relative to the project plan submitted in Phase 1.  

At the end of the Phase 2 period, each team will submit a report that contains a summary of their development efforts, any data resulting from their prototype’s demonstration activities, and a video which demonstrates how the prototype is set up and operated.  The Evaluation Panel will review the reported results for impact, efficacy, and performance against the project plan. See Phase 2 evaluation criteria below for full details. Up to three of the top-performing submissions will be selected as first, second, and third place winners, and those teams will receive $60,000, $30,000, and $10,000 respectively. 

Prize

In addition to the $500,000 prize purse for this challenge, see table below, there are other non-monetary incentives for participating: 

• Phase 1 winners will have access to subject matter experts during the Phase 2 development period to ensure that development work is well-aligned with patient needs.
• At the end of Phase 2, teams with promising prototypes may be offered introductions or networking opportunities to help them get to the next stage of development.
• Phase 2 winners will be recognized through a winners webinar and announcements at the NHLBI website.  Additional public recognition of the winners may be offered through other organizations.
• All challenge participants can receive NIH support in developing applications to compete for other NIH funding opportunities.

Phase 1 Judging Criteria

Phase 1 submissions will be scored against the following criteria:

Phase 2 Judging Criteria

Phase 2 submissions will be scored against the following criteria:

Phase 1 submission form

Character limits include spaces.

1. Team: For each team member: please list their names, their roles/expertise, and their email addresses. Please note who is the team leader/primary point of contact. (3000 characters max)
2. Eligibility: Please confirm you meet the eligibility requirements for this challenge. Please note these questions do not address all eligibility requirements. Please review the Challenge Announcement for complete elgibility. (Y/N)
   1. If you are participating as an entity, the entity shall be incorporated in the United States and also maintain a primary place of business in the United States.
   2. Is everyone on your team a US citizen or permanent resident? Non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents can participate as members of a team that otherwise satisfies the eligibility criteria. Non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents are not eligible to win monetary prizes (in whole or in part). Their participation as part of a winning team, if applicable, may be recognized when the results are announced.
   3. Is anyone on your team a federal entity or federal employee? Some federal employees can participate. Please see the eligibility requirements here:
3. Overview: Please provide an overview of your proposed approach: (1500 characters max)
   1. What is your idea and why will it work?
   2. How will it improve the patient’s experience?
   3. How does your idea differ from current solutions to supplemental oxygen for outpatients?
4. Feasibility: Please discuss the feasibility of your idea: (6000 characters max)
   1. What is the supporting evidence or scientific rationale for it?
   2. What do you estimate is the technical maturity of your approach? (is it something completely new, something based on pre-existing technology, or something else)
   3. How practical is your idea and how easy will it be for patients to use?
   4. Is this something that will cost about the same as existing solutions?
   5. What are potential barriers to its widespread adoption?
5. Impact: Please discuss the potential impact of your proposed approach: (6000 characters max)
   1. How will it address one or more of the major patient concerns regarding supplemental oxygen? (lightweight/portable, lasts longer, and delivers the needed flow rate)
   2. Is there potential for this approach to be used in other related or adjacent applications?
6. Innovation: How is your proposed approach different from existing solutions? Does the proposed approach use a novel technology, an existing technology in a novel way, or something else?  (3000 characters max)
7. Project Plan: Please provide a complete project plan, timeline, and supporting budget.  If you are a Phase 1 winner, you will be expected to execute against your project plan.  Be sure to address: (4500 characters max)
   1. How you will be able to make a demonstrable prototype within the 30 week development period
   2. What are the major milestones and what will be the biggest hurdle in successfully developing and demonstrating your technology?  How are you planning to address this hurdle?
   3. The resources and expertise that you will need to successfully develop your proposed approach.  If there are resources and/or expertise needed that are currently not available to your team, how do you plan to address these gaps?
8. Supplemental Information: Please upload any supporting files, such as design files, team bios or CV’s, etc.

Phase 2 Submission Form

Character limits include spaces

1. Overview: Please provide an overview of Phase 2 development work: (2000 characters max)
   1. What are the key findings/results?
   2. How did your results meet your expectations?
   3. What are your next steps?
2. Performance: Please discuss in detail how your technology works.  Also, please share how your approach performed in terms of: (9000 characters max)
   1. Oxygen delivery
   2. Weight and portability
   3. Duration of use
   4. Flexibility for different patient needs
3. Usability: Please discuss the advantages your technology offers to patients.  Are there potential barriers to widespread adoption by patients? (6000 characters max)
4. Commercial Potential: Discuss your technology’s potential for commercial success.  What do you foresee as possible hurdles to commercial development?  Are there other applications where this technology might be used? (3000 characters max)
5. Next Steps: What are the next steps for further development of your technology?  What additional resources will you need to support those next steps? (3000 characters max)
6. Creativity: Looking at your developed solution and the development process to arrive at this point, please discuss how your solution and process demonstrate creativity by addressing at least the following points: (2000 characters max)
   1. How is your technology different from existing supplemental oxygen options?
   2. Why will users view this as an attractive and new option?
   3. If you ran into any unexpected development problems, do you believe you overcame them in unusual or innovative ways?
7. Video - 1: Please provide the link to a video that shows your technology in action.  Be sure to show both set-up and operation steps.
8. Video - 2: This second video is optional.  Please provide a link to a 30-90 second video that is suitable for general public viewing.  NIH NHLBI is interested in having this content to be able to create montages or other assets that help build awareness of this issue and of other relevant activities in the space.
9. Supplemental Information: Please upload any supporting files, such as design files, data sets, etc.

Additional Information

Supplementary Information: These academic resources have been provided to educate the competitors about the context of the challenge’s targeted problem:

1. Optimizing Home Oxygen Therapy. An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report | Annals of the American Thoracic Society
   1. The report is also accessible at this separate link: Optimizing Home Oxygen Therapy. An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report
2. Burden and Unmet Needs with Portable Oxygen in Patients on Long Term Oxygen Therapy | Annals of the American Thoracic Society | Articles in Press

An additional element of this challenge is to promote further research and attention to the overarching field of supplemental oxygen for outpatients. To achieve this end, the challenge will promote other development opportunities, such as those afforded through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and the NHLBI Innovation Office. Participants will be encouraged to pursue some of these other opportunities and may receive NIH support in developing applications to compete for other NIH funding opportunities. Links to these two organizations are available, respectively, below:

1. NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs
2. NHLBI Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC)

Announcement of Requirements and Registration

Please see the Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Air You Wear Challenge here. You must confirm your acceptance of these requirements when you submit to the challenge.

Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Challenge 

(1) To be eligible to win a prize under this Challenge, a Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity)

1. Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in the challenge announcement;
2. In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in the United States and also maintain a primary place of business in the United States. In the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. However, non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents can participate as members of a team that otherwise satisfies the eligibility criteria. Non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents are not eligible to win monetary prizes (in whole or in part). Their participation as part of a winning team, if applicable, may be recognized when the results are announced.
3. Shall not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within the scope of their employment.
4. Shall not be an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or any other component of HHS, acting in their personal capacity.
5. Shall, if employed by a federal agency or entity other than HHS or any component of HHS, consult with an agency ethics official to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a prize under this Challenge.
6. Shall not be a judge of the Challenge, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Challenge, or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, step-parent, child, or step-child).

(2)  Federal grantees may not use federal funds from a grant award to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submission.

(3)  Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submission.

(4)  Federal awardees may not use federal funds from an Other Transaction (OT) award to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submission.

(5)  By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees to assume any and all risks and waive claims against the federal government and its related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from participation in this Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.

(6)  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, property damage, or loss potentially resulting from Challenge participation, no Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) participating in the Challenge is required to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate financial responsibility in order to participate in this Challenge.

(7)  By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees to indemnify the federal government against third party claims for damages arising from or related to Challenge activities.

(8)  A Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) shall not be deemed ineligible because the Participant used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during the Challenge if the facilities and employees are made available to all Participants participating in the Challenge on an equitable basis.

(9)  By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) warrants that he, she, or it is the sole author or owner of, or has the right to use, any copyrightable works that the submission comprises, that the works are wholly original with the Participant (or is an improved version of an existing work that the Participant has sufficient rights to use and improve), and that the submission does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which the Participant is aware.

(10)  By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) grants to the NIH an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free nonexclusive worldwide license to reproduce, publish, post, link to, share, and display publicly the contents of the Participant’s submission on the web or elsewhere, and a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice, or have practiced for or on its behalf, the submission throughout the world. Each Participant will retain all other intellectual property rights in their submission, as applicable. To participate in the Challenge, each Participant must warrant that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced nonexclusive licenses of the Participant’s rights to the federal government. Participants will not be required to transfer their intellectual property rights to NIH; however, by participating in this Challenge, Participants grant to the federal government the nonexclusive licenses recited herein.

(11)  Each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.

(12)  Each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) in this Challenge must comply with all terms and conditions of these rules, and participation in this Challenge constitutes each Participant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by these rules. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.

(13)  By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees to allow NHLBI to publicly display (e.g., on the web) the Participant’s submissions(s).

(14) Each individual Participant in this Challenge must be at least 18 years old.