Key Dates

Related Announcements

• October 6, 2023 - Notice of Information: Upcoming Prize Competition Announcement for the 2024 DEBUT Challenge. See Notice NOT-EB-23-023.

Issued by

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)

Purpose

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) intends to publish a prize competition announcement to solicit entries for the 2025 Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge. Started in 2012, NIBIB’s annual DEBUT Challenge has solicited design projects that develop innovative solutions to unmet health and clinical problems. Areas of interest for the biomedical engineering projects include, but are not limited to: diagnostics, therapeutics, technologies for underserved populations or low-resource settings, point-of-care systems, precision medicine, preventive medicine, technologies to aid individuals with disabilities, technologies to foster healthy aging, technologies to improve the health of women, and technologies for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care of diseases and illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, or diabetes.

This Notice is being provided to inform potential student teams of the upcoming opportunity to compete in the 2025 DEBUT Challenge. Publication of the Challenge announcement and launch of the submission portal are planned for November 15, 2024. The estimated submission deadline is May 31, 2025.

In 2025, NIBIB intends to award a total of up to $170,000 in cash prizes. Additional information about the planned prize competition is included below.

Background

By challenging undergraduate students to identify unmet clinical needs and develop innovative solutions for them, NIBIB targets the education of biomedical engineers who have the background, skills, and confidence to make outstanding contributions to biomedical technologies. Engaging undergraduate students to work in teams to design, build and debug solutions to real-world problems/needs in healthcare not only prepares them to function effectively in their future work environment, but also yields novel, innovative biomedical tools that can transform healthcare.

Prize Competition Details

As in previous years, DEBUT 2025 is intended to be a design competition that challenges teams of undergraduate students to identify unmet needs in healthcare and design engineering solutions for them.  All aspects of the 2025 DEBUT Challenge are expected to be similar to those of the 2024 DEBUT challenge, the details for which can be found at: https://www.nibib.nih.gov/research-programs/DEBUT-challenge/DEBUT-announcement. Additionally, in DEBUT 2025, new prizes are expected to be awarded for entries that develop technologies to foster healthy aging and for entries that develop technologies to improve the health of women.

To support and expand the DEBUT Challenge, NIBIB has joined forces with VentureWell, a not-for-profit leader in funding, training, coaching and early investment that brings student innovations to market. This public-private partnership on DEBUT allows student teams to compete for prizes offered by both NIBIB and VentureWell by submitting one application. As in previous DEBUT Challenges, NIBIB expects student teams entering the DEBUT Challenge to have the option to have their entries also considered for prizes offered by VentureWell. VentureWell prizes will be selected and awarded by VentureWell following a separate judging process. The rules for the VentureWell prizes and the additional submission components required are expected to be similar to those of past DEBUT challenges and can be found at: http://venturewell.org/students/debut/guidelines.

The Challenge announcement will likely be posted on multiple websites, including Challenge.gov and the NIBIB DEBUT website (https://www.nibib.nih.gov/research-programs/DEBUT-challenge)  and broadly disseminated across NIH stakeholder networks.

NIBIB intends to conduct this Challenge under the authority provided by the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Reauthorization Act of 2010, as amended [15 U.S.C. § 3719].

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT BEING SOLICITED AT THIS TIME.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Dave Gutekunst, PhD

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Division of Interdisciplinary Training
Telephone: 240-789-0004 
Email: [email protected]