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This challenge is no longer accepting new submissions.
2018 Innovations in Food and Agricultural Science and Technology (I-FAST) Prize Competition
I-FAST will provide entrepreneurship I-CORPS training to USDA NIFA grantees
Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Submission Start: 07/13/2018 10:00 AM ET
Submission End: 08/03/2018 11:59 PM ET
Description
SUMMARY: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA, is announcing the I-FAST prize competition (the “I-FAST Competition” or the “Competition”) to develop and implement the Innovations in Food and Agricultural Science and Technology (I-FAST) Program. NIFA will partner with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) to provide entrepreneurship training to NIFA grantees under this I-FAST pilot program. The goals are to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from NIFA supported academic research. Selected NIFA I-FAST project teams will participate in the educational programs with NSF I-Corps Program. Over a period of six months the NIFA supported teams in the I-FAST program will learn what it will take to achieve an economic impact with their particular innovation. The final goal of the I-FAST Competition is to facilitate technology transfer of innovations that can make an impact in the marketplace and the global economy. Subject of Challenge Competition: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA, mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. As part of this mission NIFA is charged with providing grant funding for research, education, and extension that address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of agriculture. A majority of NIFA grant funding is provided to academic institutions to focus on developing research in the areas of farm efficiency and profitability, ranching, renewable energy, forestry (both urban and agroforestry), aquaculture, rural communities and entrepreneurship, human nutrition, food safety, biotechnology, and conventional breeding. NIFA will partner with the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) who will provide an Entrepreneurial Immersion course and training to NIFA grantees through this I-FAST Competition. The goals of this Competition are to spur translation of fundamental research to the market place, to encourage collaboration between academia and industry, and to train NIFA-funded faculty, students and other researchers to understand innovation and entrepreneurship. The purpose of the I-FAST Competition is to identify NIFA-funded research teams (an I-FAST team includes the Principal Investigator (PI), the Entrepreneurial Lead, and the Mentor) who will receive additional support, in the form of mentoring, training, and funding to accelerate the translation of knowledge derived from fundamental research into emerging products and services that can attract subsequent third-party funding. NIFA-funded research teams will be required to participate in Entrepreneurial Immersion courses provided by the NSF I-Corps program. The NSF I-Corps is a program specifically designed to broaden the impact of select, basic research projects by preparing scientists and engineers to focus beyond the laboratory. Leveraging experience and guidance from established entrepreneurs and a targeted curriculum within the NSF I-Corp program, NIFA I-FAST teams will learn to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from NIFA supported academic research. The I-FAST Competition will help create a stronger national ecosystem for innovation that couples scientific discovery with technology development to address agricultural and societal needs. DATES: Competition Submission Period – Pre-Application and Evaluation Interviews:- Pre-Application Open Period: July 13, 2018 to August 3, 2018.
- Pre-Application Evaluation and Interviews: August 6, 2018 to August 9, 2018.
- Full Application Open Period: August 10, 2018 to August 17, 2018.
- Final Evaluation and Judging – Full Application: August 20, 2018 to August 22, 2018.
- Verification of Winners: August 23, 2018.
- Announcement of Winner(s): August 24, 2018.
- Kickoff (on-site): September (arrive 25) 26-28, 2018.
- Web sessions (online): Thursdays 1:00-4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) – October 4, 11, 18, 25 and November 1, 2018.
- Kickoff (on-site): September (arrive 30) to October 1-3, 2018.
- Web sessions (online): Mondays 1:00-4:00 p.m. ET –October 10, 17, 24, 31 and November 7, 2018.
Prizes
2018 Innovations in Food and Agricultural Science and Technology (I-FAST) Prize CompetitionAmount of the Prize: The NIFA I-FAST Competition Prize Purse will be a maximum of $250,000 which will be divided to provide $50,000 each to a maximum of five (5) teams. Prize Purse funds are required to be used by winning Teams to fully participate in the NSF I-Corps program curriculum. NIFA reserves the right to award less than the maximum number of available prizes. Payment of the Prize: Prizes awarded under this Competition will be paid by electronic funds transfer to the academic/university institution the Team(s) represent(s). Once prize winners are selected, NIFA will provide the winners with the forms and financial documents that must be completed and returned to NIFA to set up the electronic transfer. All Federal, state and local taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner(s).
Rules
Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition: The I-FAST Competition is open to teams (“Teams” or “Participants”) that are made up of individuals from academic/university institutions that have received a prior NIFA award in a scientific or engineering field relevant to the proposed innovation that is currently active or that has been active within five years from the closing date of the Pre-Application Open Period. The prior award could range from a modest single-investigator award to a large, distributed center and also includes awards involving students. To be eligible to win a prize under the Competition, Teams:- Shall have registered to participate in the Competition under the rules;
- Shall have complied with all the requirements of the Competition rules;
- May not include a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within the scope of their employment; and
- In the case of a private entity Team member, the member shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. In the case of an individual Team member, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
- Entrepreneurial Lead (EL)
- I-FAST Team Mentor
- Principal Investigator (PI)
- Attend, in person, an evening reception and 3-day kick-off Entrepreneurial Immersion course;
- Conduct approximately 100 customer interviews over the 6-week program, and submit interview summary reports. This process of customer discovery includes in-person face to face meetings with potential customers and requires the team to be “outside the building” for these activities. It is expected that the team will not use telephone or online conferencing during the customer discovery process. It is expected the team will require a minimum of 15 hours and a maximum of 40 hours per week
- Participate in 5 weekly webinar sessions and submit regular updates to the team’s business model canvas. In addition, it is expected that I-Corps teams will take advantage of instructor office hours; and
- Attend, in person, the final 2-day course close out/lessons learned session (to be held in the same region as the kick-off course).
Judging Criteria
Government Cross Agency
Judging: The information on the Competition will be provided via www.challenge.gov. NIFA will screen all entries for eligibility and completeness. Entries from Teams that do not meet the eligibility requirements and/or that fail to include required submission elements will not be evaluated or considered for award. Eligible and complete entries will be judged by a fair and impartial panel of individuals from NIFA and NSF (the “Judging Panel”). Pre-Application Evaluation: The Judging Panel will evaluate the pre-application to determine the following: 1) Did the technology proposed receive past NIFA funding within the specified timeframe? 2) Does the team have the required team members and are the roles of each team member clearly described and meet the noted responsibilities? 3) Does the commercialization plan provide a good understanding of the team’s knowledge of the current state of the art and how the technology could enter into a potential market? 4) Were the page limits met? Following the evaluation, the Judging Panel will conduct a phone interview with each selected team. This will emphasize the time commitment and availability of the entire team to complete the NSF I-CORPS program during one of the fall 2018 cohorts. Full-Application Evaluation: The Judging Panel will evaluate the Full-application to determine the following and approximately equal consideration will be given to each criterion except for item (3), which will receive twice the value of any of the other items: 1. I-Corps Team: Does the application clearly describe: the I-Corps team, the rationale for the team’s formation, members' entrepreneurial expertise, relevance to the innovation effort, and members' experience in collaborating? 2. Lineage of the Proposed Innovation: Does the application provide a table of previous NIFA awards and identify the original Principle Investigator (PI)? Does the application clearly describe how this research has led the Team to believe that a commercial opportunity exists for the effort moving forward? 3. Description of the Potential Commercial Impact: Does the application clearly describe the profile of a typical customer of the proposed innovation? Does the application describe the customer needs to be met by the proposed innovation? Does the application describe how the customer currently meets those needs with the current state of the art and does the customer believe this innovation is better than the current technology? Does the application clearly describe the proposed innovation and how it relates to the fundamental research already conducted under previous award(s)? Does the application describe how much a customer would pay for the solution? 4. Project plan: Does the project plan clearly describe the current status including the stage of development? Does the application provide a description of the proof-of-concept or technology demonstration that will be provided at the end of the project? 5. Page Limits: Did the application meet the required page limits?
How To Enter
Submission Process for Participants: The Competition will have a two-phase selection process. Teams initially will submit a pre-application. From the pre-applications, USDA NIFA will select Teams that will be invited to submit full applications. From the full applications, USDA NIFA will select the winning Team(s). Participants will register for the Competition and will submit the pre-application to the Competition via www.challenge.gov. Teams can enter the contest by submitting the pre-application through the “Submit Solution” function on Challenge.gov, and then send the pre-application, with name and contact info, to contest@nifa.usda.gov. The pre-application shall contain the following information: Prepare a three-page Executive Summary that describes the following:- Composition of the Team and roles (EL, PI, Mentor) of the members proposing to undertake the commercialization feasibility research.
- Point of Contact information for ALL of the members.
- Relevant current/previous NIFA award(s) including award number, Title of the Project, and the NIFA program the award was funded under.
- Brief description of the potential commercial impact.
- Brief description of the current commercialization plans for the innovation.I-Corps Team (one page limit)
- After the interviews, teams that are selected to submit a full application will provide the full application via challenge.gov through the “Enter a Submission” function, and then send the application with your name and contact info, to contest@nifa.usda.gov. The full application shall include the following project description information:
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- Briefly describe the I-Corps team and provide rationale for its formation, focusing on members' entrepreneurial expertise, relevance to the innovation effort, and members' experience in collaborating on previous projects.
- Include point of contact information for all team members.
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- Provide the current/previous NIFA award(s) including award number, Title of Project and the NIFA program the award was funded under.
- Briefly describe how this research has led the Team to believe that a commercial opportunity exists for the effort moving forward.
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- Provide a brief profile of a typical customer of the proposed innovation.
- Describe the customer need that you believe will be met by the proposed innovation.
- Describe how the customer currently meets those needs.
- Your approach what is the proposed innovation? How does it relate to the fundamental research already conducted under previous award(s)?
- How much do you think a customer would pay for your solution?
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- Current Status - In what stage is the development: proof-of-principle, proof-of-concept, prototype (alpha, beta), etc...
- Provide a brief description of the proof-of-concept or technology demonstration that will be provided at the end of the project.
- Kickoff (on-site): September (arrive 25) 26-28, 2018
- Web sessions (online): Thursdays 1-4pm ET – October 4, 11, 18, 25 and November 1, 2018
- Lessons Learned (on-site): November 8-9, 2018
- Fall Cohort #2: Location TBD (Likely Los Angeles or San Diego, CA)
- Kickoff (on-site): September (arrive 30) to October 1-3, 2018
- Web sessions (online): Mondays 1-4pm ET – October 10, 17, 24, 31 and November 7, 2018
- Lessons Learned (on-site): November 15-16, 2018Pre-Application Interviews will take place August 6, 2018 to August 9, 2018.Competition dates are subject to change. Entries submitted before or after the Competition Submission Period will not be reviewed or considered for award.
- The Full-Application Phase Competition Submission Period begins August 10, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. ET and ends August 17, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. ET. USDA NIFA’s receiving computer set to Eastern Time is the official timekeeping device for the Competition.
- The Pre-Application Phase Competition Submission Period begins July 13, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. ET and ends August 3, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. ET. USDA NIFA’s receiving computer set to Eastern Time is the official time keeping device for the Competition.