The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) -- the "Tinder for Startups" (Nature), "Shark Tank on Steroids" (BIO), "Kickstarter for IP" (Wired), and "Powerful Innovation Toolkit" (White House) -- is orchestrating the Future of Health Innovation Tournament Challenge (FHITC).
FHITC will source/launch more than 15 high-growth startups over twelve months to build the future of human health and performance on Earth and in space by merging biotechnology -- medical technology, genomics, and synthetic biology -- with artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. Participants will receive workforce training and valuable entrepreneurial skills. Startups will raise capital, boost commercialization, and create jobs. FHITC activities will be held virtually and in person, with in-person events based in the Washington, D.C. and Dallas–Fort Worth metro areas.
FHITC is open to participants everywhere. You don't need a startup yet to join. **ENTRY IS ROLLING**!
For this tournament challenge, we are looking for entrepreneurs to form startups or to enroll with existing startups. Entrepreneurs will compete for access to capital from CAI’s investor community. We are also looking for subject matter experts — Advocates — to recruit, mentor, advise, judge, and/or potentially invest in teams, competing for the opportunity to hyper-accelerate their startups. For the first time, we are also accepting applications from candidate CAI Interns, who will work with CAI’s leadership to build in-house startups with access to CAI’s trade secret knowledge base.
Through FHITC, CAI will match Entrepreneurs and Interns with the most promising of 170,000+ U.S. taxpayer-funded technologies that are available for licensing from CAI’s 150+ research partners. Participants will also gain access to CAI’s best 40+ webinars on the business of science.
If you're interested in learning more about the tournament challenge, then please submit this form.
Since 2015, 460+ CAI Startups raised >$2.8 billion in funding and created 3,200+ direct jobs. Startups that win a CAI Challenge raise an average of $10 million, which is higher than the average funds raised by startups that go through other biotech and deeptech accelerators. By enrolling in FHITC, you will be in good company!
By submitting your information, CAI will send you updates on the tournament challenge and work with you to find a role that matches your interests and bandwidth. Please email the tournament challenge admin at
cody@caistartups.org for any questions or concerns.
