Science Innovation Contest To Begin Mid-Oct.

UPDATED: October 7, 2014, at 2:45 a.m.

The Harvard Innovation Lab will kick off a competition that will award innovative solutions in the fields of healthcare and the life sciences next Tuesday.

The Health and Life Sciences Challenge is currently seeking teams of students and affiliates to enter for a chance at the $50,000 grand prize. This year's contest features two new focus areas.

“With every year, we try to reevaluate what topics speak to different populations at Harvard,” said Alice Ly, assistant director for Health and Sciences at the i-Lab. “The new topics this year are prevention and safety [and] health information technology and wearable technology, which many students have unique ideas about.”

Ly estimates that only 10 percent of applicants to the challenge are Harvard College students, which could in part be due to a lack of medical experience.

“The students who participate in our challenges are a function of what topics are picked,” said Gordon S. Jones, managing director of the i-Lab. “It’s less frequently that a freshman at Harvard College will have exposure to an operating room.”

Some participants in the challenge will likely arrive with fully-developed ideas, but others will choose their project at the event.

“We have a number of networking events; in November, the pitch mix-and-match event is an opportunity for members of all challenges to see all of the awesome ideas happening around the University,” Ly said. “You can come with an idea without the technical background and connect with people to help further your project.”

With a week remaining until the event, 160 community members and counting have already RSVPed.

Joseph B. Lassiter III, professor of management practice at the Business School, emphasized the accessibility of the event to students at Harvard College.

“Undergraduates should come to the kick-off season and get a feel for the Deans’ Challenge and the i-lab programming around the Deans’ Challenge,” Lassiter said. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

The Challenge, which launched in 2012, will be co-chaired by Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of Harvard Medical School, and Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School.

It is featured as one of four Deans’ challenges, with other topics centering around cultural entrepreneurship, food systems, and innovation in sports.