The MTRAC AgBio Innovation Challenge (“Challenge”) is a technology concept competition designed to match the fitness of university-derived emerging technology concepts to validated, near-term market applications in agriculture, biomaterials, and industrial and environmental (i.e., non-medical) biotechnology markets. This scope of opportunities is referred to herein as “AgBio”. The purpose of the Challenge is to help the MTRAC program assess technology-market risks and opportunities.
The 2024 AgBio Challenge focuses on innovations that improve value and efficiency in specialty crop or animal protein (e.g., poultry, livestock, seafood, dairy, etc.) production (or food products derived from them) through precision. Qualified innovations are those that employ improved molecular, microbial, genetic, tissue, or environmental level detection tools or process strategies to improve the production efficiency or value of food in the target categories. Of particular interest are farm-level concepts that offer an original (and likely feasible) route to improving yield, quality, resilience, nutrient or natural resource efficiency, and/or sustainability of food production in these categories, including those that describe unique detection, sensing, compositional, and genetic/breeding advances, and those that lead to improved decision-making for specialty crop and animal protein production.
Who: The Michigan AgBio Innovation Challenge invites researchers at public universities, non-profit research institutes, and public hospitals across the state of Michigan to conduct real-time opportunity assessments and technology pathfinding in the AgBio marketplace.
Why: The AgBio Innovation Challenge seeks to award a series of prizes ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 based on the identification and validation of potential technology applications that effectively address the 2024 Innovation Challenge Theme.
What: The body of the MTRAC Innovation Challenge product concept paper will be an opportunity briefing that identifies the technology concept and the intended application (problem to be solved), evidence supporting the strength of the need for a solution, the rationale for why the technology applies and an assessment of the time and resources required to demonstrate the application. (Proposal reviews are conducted confidentially by a panel of experienced technology commercialization professionals. See the program document for more details.)
When: Announcement will be distributed in early May, and participant papers are due by Friday, May 31, 2024, at 5:00 PM EDT.
Below, winners are listed by year.
Innovation Challenge Links:
MTRAC Innovation Challenge Webinar
