NIH All About Grants Podcast: Keeping your Eye on the Prize...Competition

David Kosub >> Keeping your eyes on the prize. You've heard that statement before, but what does that actually mean here at NIH? And what kind of research is actually supported with prize competitions? Join us for this episode of the NIH All About Grants podcast to learn more about prizes.

>> From the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. This is all about grants.

Kosub >> All right. Well, welcome to the show. I am glad to say that we have with us Doctor Taylor Gilliland. He is the NIH Challenge Manager here within the NIH Office of the Director. And he's going to tell us all about prizes, which are a separate thing than grants for this All About Grants podcast. Welcome to the show, Taylor.

Taylor Gilliland >> Well, thanks so much for having me. Really excited to be here and to share some information with your audience.

Kosub >> All right. So let's just set the set the stage. What is a challenge competition or a prize competition anyways.

Gilliland >> Yeah I mean great question to start us off with. So first of all, you know, a challenge aka prize competition, you know, at NIH we use those two terms interchangeably. You know it can really best be described as an open innovation mechanism whereby solutions to problems are crowdsourced from the public, and then the best solutions are awarded a prize. And usually that's in the form of a cash payment or honorable recognition or other kinds of support. You know, the challenges have really been used for centuries. You know, we think of them relatively new at NIH, but they've been used for hundreds of years in both public and private sectors to really engage broad audiences, coming up with creative, unanticipated solutions to vexing or challenging problems that an individual organization or, in this case, a government agency is facing. You know, NIH has formally had the statutory authority to launch challenges since 2010, and we've used that mechanism more than 100 times since to achieve, you know, a wide variety of goals, like generating innovative ideas for, let's say, a new strategic scientific direction, developing and demonstrating health technologies like medical diagnostic devices, informing and educating the public about important health topics like the importance of rare disease research, and engaging new people and communities and then building their capacity to contribute to NIH funded research. So it's a pretty broad description, but I think we'll get into more of the details as we go along.

Kosub >Yeah, definitely want to get into a lot of those details. And for centuries, I should have caught the podcast about like 300 years ago. That would have been helpful. Uh, but, uh, I mentioned these are not grants. They're not contracts. They're something completely separate. You mentioned a statutory authority. It's something different that allows us to fund research. So how are they similar or are they similar? How are they different from what a traditional grant is here at NIH?

Gilliland >> Yeah. So I like to describe challenges as just another tool within our toolbox of mechanisms here at NIH to help achieve our overall mission of optimizing health and preventing or reducing illness for all people. And so in that toolbox, you have challenges, of course, grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, maybe even other transactions awards. These are all different tools that we can pull out and utilize to solve different problems that, uh, you know, are within our agency's mission here at NIH. But that's maybe where some of the similarities kind of end, because challenges really contribute to the NIH mission in a significantly different manner. So grants I like to describe as an innovation push mechanism, you are giving funds to an institution, uh, to be implemented by a PI, and they are awarded prospectively, um, to support those researchers in attempting to accomplish certain scientific or technological objectives that are set forth by the investigator, typically as specific aims in a grant application. A grant awards those funds up front, and NIH really takes on the risk if those specific aims are not accomplished. And there's also, of course, regulations and requirements as to how those grant funds can be used. Of course, you know, challenges in one way really flip that completely on its head, instead of a push mechanism they're an innovation pull or inducement mechanism that retrospectively, not prospectively, but after the fact, awards cash prizes to innovators who successfully accomplished the objectives that are typically set forth by NIH. So it is the participant in a challenge who really absorbs that risk of failure. You know, what's really important with the prize competition is that prizes are not awarded if no one delivers a solution that meets the criteria to win. Also an important distinction is that cash prizes that challenge awards they are unrestricted. They can be used for really any purpose and there's no reporting requirements. So that's just some of the ways in which a challenge is different from a grant. But they both, again, are tools in that metaphorical toolbox at NIH that we use to advance our mission.

Kosub >> Yeah, I like that push and pull metaphor. That's like that's how I teach my kid how to climb a ladder so I can use that. Um, you started off you mentioned a couple of examples of prize competition. There was over 100 since we've started working on these. Can you perhaps tell us a bit more, give a couple more examples and tell us, like who, who is or who was in certain situations if it's closed. Like who was eligible to, um, submit an idea?

Gilliland >> Great. Yeah. So it's hard, um, amongst our vast portfolio of prize competitions, they really have ranged and been so diverse, which is such a strength of this mechanism, is that you can use it to tackle a wide variety of different problems. Okay. Let's get down to specifics. So for example, um, right now, actually I am really lucky to be running a couple different prize competitions, all leveraging what we call our Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology or RADx Tech program. And each of these three different challenges are focused on helping innovators, technology developers, spinouts, small companies, academic investigators take a prototype diagnostic device or monitoring technology or other kind of, you know, maybe in vitro assay and actually mature along the development pathway to address a specific clinical need. So we have our RADx Tech for Maternal Health challenge for postpartum monitoring devices. We have our RADx Tech Fetal Monitoring Challenge to improve the monitoring and diagnosis of fetal health conditions in utero. We have our RADx Tech ACT ENDO challenge, which is going to be a technology accelerator for new ways and noninvasive approaches to diagnosing and monitoring endometriosis. So those are big tech development, tech accelerator type challenges that we're running. There are a couple other different ones that are ongoing at that scale. You know, millions of dollars in cash prizes available, multiple years, multiple phases. But then the other end of the spectrum, we have challenges that are designed to engage real nontraditional audiences. Um, smaller dollar challenges where we're opening up to anyone in the country that has really good ideas of how we could better communicate certain aspects of public health information or better, um, engage nonprofit, community-based organizations. So a really great challenge that just wrapped up that our Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, or NICHD, they ran a multi-year, multi-phase challenge called Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge. That was all about How do we help small, nonprofit, community-based organizations develop the infrastructure and expertise to participate in NIH funded grant research. So it's a great way, actually, of how a prize competition was being leveraged to help those who normally wouldn't apply for an NIH grant to develop the expertise and experience and, um, kind of build up the infrastructure they would need to partner with other institutions or be able to directly apply for funding, um, from NIH. So, you know, it's really hard to try and capture everything from small $5,000 challenges to multi-year, $10 million competitions and everything in between. But that might just be a few examples that come to mind.

Kosub >> Yeah, definitely. Definitely a lot going on in this space. Uh, definitely. Cool to hear about the, uh, you kind of hit on some of this when for at least from the NIH side, these prizes help de-risk a lot of the research interests from NIH. And but what other kind of benefits does it have for NIH or the wider research community, or even the public, for that matter?

Gilliland >> Well, you know, I think for a win-win for both the public and for NIH is that prize competitions really are great at kind of going beyond our usual suspects and kind of increasing the number and diversity of solvers that are tackling a problem that at NIH and our, our, um, our collaborators have identified. So the challenges really significantly lower that administrative barrier to engaging with NIH. Um, and for some challenges the only requirement to compete and win a cash prize is that you have to be a US citizen or permanent resident or entity based in the United States, and then we can also award prizes to individuals, not just institutions. So it allows us to be able to directly engage with folks like for some recent challenges, you know, middle school science teachers, high school and undergraduate students directly, community based nonprofit organizations like I just mentioned. Um, folks who otherwise wouldn't necessarily have the resources to be eligible to apply for and receive and manage an NIH grant or contract so we can bring in those experts from um fields and disciplines that usually are not supported by NIH funded research, as well as incentivize the private sector to come in and participate in competitions. Because we really again, it lowers that barrier to entry, um, diversifies who can contribute to NIH funded research. And so that's why it's a it's a win for us and for the public. We're able to engage a much broader audience.

Kosub >> Yeah, I, I truly appreciate that. It's everyone's available to to participate in these prizes in some situations, which I think is very cool and gets people better familiar with what NIH is. Um, and I love calling them solvers. I think that's super cool. Um, but, you know, you kind of hit on this with the engagement with some of the public. Um, how do people actually find these prize competitions? You know, it's like they're, you know, they may not be familiar with the NIH guide, even if they might even appear. The prize competitions might even appear on there. Um, can you tell us more about how people can find them and how we promote them?

Gilliland >> Yeah. Of course. I mean, the great thing is, is that there is a one stop shop for not just NIH challenges, but challenges being conducted by a wide variety of different federal agencies. And that's challenge.gov pretty easy to remember. Challenge.gov. And that is where you can go and find out what are all of the open competitions going on, not just in which you can easily filter for, but other federal agencies as well, like NASA and National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, Department of Defense. It's really incredible to see the really diverse ways in which this open innovation mechanism is being utilized across the entire government. So that's kind of your best place to go to find out about NIH prize competitions again is Challenge.gov. And then depending upon who the intended solver or participant audience is, you know, each NIH institute and center that launches a prize competition will craft their own, um, targeted outreach strategy and to make sure that the intended solver audience finds out about it. But challenge.gov one stop shop. Best place to go.

Kosub >> Uh, definitely one stop shop. You mentioned money. There was like ten millions or millions of dollars worth of prizes and other sort of incentives. Can you tell us more about what these incentives are and, you know, if they are financial? I think you even hinted at it could be they could go directly to the person and not the not the institution. Can you speak more to that?

Gilliland >> Yeah, absolutely. So again, big difference with a grant is that a prize competition for the most part, and the vast majority of competitions we run at NIH, they do offer a cash prize, and that is a direct transfer of funds out of the US Treasury into your, in some cases, your personal bank account or to your company's account or to your institution's account. So they are an unrestricted cash prize. A winner can use them for whatever purpose that they want. Um, there are no reporting requirements. There's no strings attached. Uh, they are a reward for having delivered something to NIH. Uh, delivered something that not only met the objectives, but were the best out of all the competitors that enter into a challenge. So, um, they are typically challengs awarded direct cash prize. Now, there are other kind of non-cash incentives or rewards, whether that be an honorable mention or some of our art challenges or graphic design challenges. NIH will feature the award-winning work on our websites and promotional materials. We'll showcase winning solutions at conferences and meetings and workshops, so lots of different ways to get recognition. And then in some of our challenges, there are lots of built in, kind of like pro bono support, for example, in those technology development prize competitions I run each of our innovators across all the phases of the challenge will get free wraparound subject matter consultant support. So let's say if you need some help understanding, what are the, for example, the FDA regulatory requirements for your particular class of medical device, and in our prize competition you're able to get free consultant support to help you and your company and your startup better understand the regulatory landscape and requirements. Just one example. Or in that Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge, the nonprofit groups participating in that one had a multitude of webinars and training and guidance, one on one from NIH and others on how to apply for a grant from NIH, how to manage receipt, how to design really effective, um, uh, you know, clinical research studies or community based research studies, etc.. So lots of ways it's not just the cash prize, um, that can be an inducement to participate, but depending on the challenge, lots of this kind of wraparound support, if you will.

Kosub >> Yeah. So you're giving our audience a lot to be, to be thinking about if especially if they're just getting exposed to prizes. Um, what what would you what is your advice if someone is just wanting to get started and, you know, in this whole world.

Gilliland >> Well, I mean, that's just to keep, um, an open mind. I mean, everyone listening to this podcast right now, you have some type of idea, um, you bring your creativity, bring your perspectives, bring that intellect, and be thinking creatively and outside the box of how you could contribute that to solving problems, either within the kinds of NIH domains you're used to or even, you know, when you look on Challenge.gov, you'll see a lot else that's going on out there that could really benefit from your expertise. Um, so I guess my recommendation would be, you know, think broadly about how you could contribute to solving, um, uh, you know, problems broadly in the science and technology space. And think about how you can do that, um, with a low barrier way by participating in competitions. And, you know, of course, I really care about the ones sponsored by NIH, but also, um, in relation to other federal agencies as well. So, um, be open minded, realize you bring a lot to the table to solve problems both within your particular scientific or clinical domain and then far beyond as well.

Kosub >> Yeah, yeah, definitely check out NIH prizes first, then go to the other agencies.

Gilliland> >>Yes. Yes. Of course.

Kosub >> Um, so, Taylor, this has been great to learn more about prizes and challenge competitions. Um, before we go, I always like to leave the opportunity for our guests to to say any final thoughts? Is there anything you'd like to leave our audience about? Prize competitions?

Gilliland >> Um, you know, if you're a typical, um, member of, of kind of the NIH funded research ecosystem, you know, when you think about it, participating in a challenge, you can kind of take everything you know about your standard way of engaging with NIH and kind of just gently set that off to the side. And then when you come to an NIH sponsored challenge, you can think about it as something completely new and different how you engage, how you participate, the type of solutions you might be providing. It could be a very different experience than maybe what you're used to. So again, if you kind of come into that with that creativity, that open mindset, um, I think, you know, everyone listening here will be able to find some challenge that they're like, yes, I can contribute my ideas, my solution, my technology, my new approach. Um, or just, you know, my new ideas. And we run competitions where we're just looking for really good ideas about new strategic research directions. So, um, uh, you know, I just encourage you to, to keep your eyes open for competitions and prizes that, uh, you might want to participate in. And don't be shy and and, uh, please do, um, uh, participate.

Kosub >> Well, Taylor, I truly appreciate it. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on prize competitions. You know, to reiterate, check out Challenge.gov. That's your basically your one stop shop for finding a whole bunch of information about prizes. You know, you can also reach out to program staff here if there's a competition you've heard about and want to learn a bit more, definitely reach out to those folks as well. This has been David Kosub with today's edition of All About Prizes. Thank you.