AI MedTech Match Grand Challenge
$100,000 in funding available to unique Health AI research proposals for improving patient care.
What is the AI MedTech Match Grand Challenge?
Leveraging Health AI Research To Improve Patient Care
Hosted by AI & Digital Health Innovation and e-HAIL, the AI MedTech Match Grand Challenge is an annual competition–style program designed to pair clinical researchers with AI researchers.
U-M has some of the greatest AI and clinical expertise in the world—we’re pulling them together to develop impactful research ideas!
The Mission of the Grand Challenge
We match clinical researchers from Michigan Medicine with AI researchers from across the University of Michigan and funding one-year projects to:
Advance health AI research ideas that will improve patient care
Support the applications of extramural research grants at the conclusion of the projects
How it Works
Stage 1 - Clinical Idea Submission
Interested clinical faculty submit a short video (up to 5 minutes long) presenting a health AI research idea.
This stage occurs before AI faculty have been engaged
The video presentation must include:
An overview of the problem you are trying to solve
How solving the problem will improve patient care
What kinds of data are available and how much
Where you think AI or machine learning is needed
A description what will be completed by the end of the year (knowing the goal is to submit a large grant application at the conclusion of the project).
Process in Detail
Stage 2 - AI Faculty Match
Participating AI faculty experts will review the videos and indicate which clinical faculty they would be interested in partnering with.
AI faculty will have the opportunity to watch the videos at any time during a two-week period after submissions
AI faculty will fill out a short survey to indicate which project(s) are of most interest to them
Clinical faculty will be provided with a list of AI faculty interested in collaborating on the project
If multiple AI faculty are interested in the same project, the clinical faculty will meet with AI faculty and determine the best fit to collaborate on the project
All interested AI faculty will be notified whether or not they matched with a clinical researcher
Once matched, the AI faculty and clinical faculty will work as a team to define and present their proposal
Stage 3 - Project Proposals and Review
Teams submit 2-3 page proposals for their project in Competition Space. A panel of leaders from Michigan Medicine, the College of Engineering, and the School of Public Health will review and rate each proposal based on the outlined criteria. Up to 6 projects will advance to Pitch Day.
Each team must have at least one AI faculty and one clinical faculty
A budget must be provided with the proposal
Each team that applies will receive written feedback from the Review Team
The project must be completed within one year and will have semi-annual milestones that must be completed
This year should be spent developing a proof-of-concept for an external grant application
Stage 4 - Pitch Day
The top scoring teams will pitch to the “Wolverine Den” panel, which rates each project after the presentation.
The Wolverine Den will discuss and rate projects after the presenters have left the Zoom
All scores will be tallied by the Wolverine Den at the conclusion of Pitch Day
Award Announcements and Funding
The winners of the competition will be announced within 3 business days after Pitch Day.
All teams that present will be provided written feedback from the Wolverine Den
Winners will receive funding within 2 weeks after Pitch Day
Project Completion
All projects must be completed within one year
AI & Digital Health Innovation Administrators will check in on milestone updates semi-annually
After a project is completed, it is expected that teams will be ready to apply for external grants and other funding opportunities