Innovation in MedTech Awards


The American India Foundation (AIF) and Stanford Medicine are jointly hosting the first symposium on maternal and newborn health on October 14, 2016 with the aim of reducing the thousands of childbirth-related deaths that occur in India and globally. At that symposium, Stanford Medicine and the AIF will also be announcing the winners of the first AIF-Stanford Medicine Innovation in MedTech Award, which celebrates innovators who are disrupting poverty and catalyzing social and economic change in India.

We are no longer accepting nominations for the Innovation in MedTech Award.

Up to two awards will be presented in each of the following three categories:

        1)    Most innovative concept

        2)    Most innovative field-tested prototype of a concept

        3)    Most innovative product currently deployed in the market

Jurors include a prestigious panel of Stanford faculty and AIF representatives. Winners will be notified by the end of September and awards will be presented at the AIF Stanford Event on October 14. Awardees must be present at the event and agree to participate in the event showcase. Awardees will receive commemorative plaques and be mentioned on the AIF website. Awardees will have an opportunity to exhibit their concepts or products at the innovation showcase at the event. Additionally they will be offered a one-hour meeting with a select set of event panelists, Stanford faculty or AIF board members, and their innovation will be featured in a blog post to be written by AIF’s CEO published in the aftermath of the event.  Winners will also be announced in a press release.

Judging Criteria

A panel of experts in medicine, technology and venture capital will judge the entries to select the awardees. Each category will also have a runner-up. The following criteria will be used in judging and selecting winning entries:

1. Originality of idea.  Your idea must be new. While it may be an improvement on an existing innovation, the more unique your innovation the more likely it is to win.

2. Feasibility.  Your innovation must have a high likelihood of being implemented and must be based on realistic assessments of the challenges of deploying your innovation on the ground in India.

3. Frugally Innovative.   In order to have the highest impact on the marginalized people in India, your innovation must be affordable relative to the number of people it impacts. In other words, while the overall invention itself may be expensive, it must impact enough people such that the cost per person is as low as possible.

4. Rugged.  Your innovation must be able to withstand the rough and harsh environments in which it will likely be deployed, i.e., extreme heat, lack of continuous power, dust, rain, transportation difficulty and other challenges should have been considered.

5. Impactful.  The larger the number of people likely to benefit from your innovation, the greater the chance of it being selected.  The judges will also consider the severity of the problem in terms of its impact on the target population.

Disclaimer: Please note that all of the materials provided as part of this submission will be made available to a panel of judges and used in promotional materials for this and future events and will be made available and displayed to the public. Please do not submit any materials you consider proprietary or confidential. By submitting this application, you agree to indemnify AIF and Stanford Medicine from any claims of infringement of intellectual property rights by you, your affiliates, investors or any 3rd party. Please note that incomplete or irrelevant entries will not be considered.