This startup competition is called the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Water, Food & Agricultural Innovation Prize on water innovation that gives student-led teams from all throughout the United States and abroad innovation grants of up to $50,000 per year.
Since the Prize’s inception in 2015, 21 winning teams have shared $225K among themselves. The primary innovation-focused event of the MIT Water Club and MIT Food & Agriculture Club, they assist aspiring company owners in turning research and ideas into profitable ventures, connecting them with mentors and resources, and expanding their networks in the water sector. The design of products and policies, as well as engineering and data analytics, are all acceptable approaches to water innovation.
Prize:
The winners of the MIT Water, Food & Agriculture Innovation Prize will be awarded
innovation grants of up to $50,000.
Eligibility:
- The entry must involve a technology, product, service, or process aimed at solving a problem
related to the world’s water, food and agriculture challenges. The systems have numerous
opportunities and challenges to solve related to policy, technology, data sensing, analytics,
implementation, financing, end-to-end solutions, etc. They encourage diverse and creative
submissions. - A team must be comprised of at least one student who is fully enrolled at any college or
university, and it must be a student who presents the pitch. - At least one student presenter from the team must be available to attend a final pitch event
in May, 2023. - Teams are not eligible to participate in the Spring 2023 MIT Water, Food & Agriculture
Innovation Prize if they have secured combined funding, grants, prize money, or revenue
greater than $100k (exclusive of funding explicitly awarded for research, technology, or
product development). - Entering teams must be prepared to provide documentation to validate any claims that are
made concerning the intellectual property underlying their business plans, including any
claims concerning the licensing of Third-Party IP. Entries should be made with the full
understanding of MIT’s regulations on Intellectual Property Rights. - Innovations at all stages are welcome to apply; however, past winners of the prize have been
able to demonstrate the potential to take their innovation to market within a reasonable
time horizon (~5yrs).
