The Brain Race Advances Semi-Finalist Teams of Entrepreneurs to Advance Breakthrough Solutions at the Intersection of Neuroscience and Oncology

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In partnership with Resonance Philanthropies of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and The Brain Tumour Charity, the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) selected 32 multidisciplinary teams of entrepreneurs as semifinalists in the Brain Race -- a global innovation challenge to improve outcomes for the brain tumor community.

For Phase 1 of the Brain Race, which began in March 2019, 300+ entrepreneurs with expertise in neuroscience, oncology, business, and law enrolled in CAI's award-winning, virtual startup accelerator platform. From these entrepreneurs, 124 teams formed with guidance from CAI, coined as the "Tinder for Startups" by Nature. Teams then prepared deliverables that overview their ideas to commercialize promising inventions -- including therapeutics, diagnostics, and devices -- with the potential to address The Brain Tumour Charity's strategy, A Cure Can't Wait: double survival within ten years and halve the harm that brain tumours have on quality of life within five years.

Phase 1 deliverables included "elevator pitches" and 350-word executive summaries, which CAI, The Brain Tumour Charity, and the public voted on between September 9th and September 29th, 2019. Public voting accounted for 10% of the weighted average and was based on the number of "likes", "views", and "comments" for each elevator pitch. Phase 1 deliverables from the semifinalists are posted on the CAI Startups YouTube account.

With semi-finalist teams selected, Phase 1 of the Brain Race has concluded. In Phase 2 of the Brain Race, the semifinalists will continue their training and leverage it to create comprehensive, 10-page business plans on how to commercialize promising inventions that are topics of the Brain Race. Semifinalists will submit their business plans and pitch to a judging panel -- comprised of leaders from industry, academia, foundations, patient advocacy groups, and investor groups -- in January 2020. At the conclusion of Phase 2, judges will select 15+ winners, which will form start-up companies, pursue licensing agreements from institutions where promising inventions were sourced, and pitch for seed and early-stage funding at investor forums in the United States and Europe.

The Brain Race is orchestrated by CAI, a 501(c)3 non-profit that launched 200+ startups from six other global innovation challenges since 2014. CAI now has partnerships with 80+ research institutes -- including the National Institutes of Health, NASA, universities, and hospitals -- with more than 16,000 brain tumor-related inventions combined. From the invention portfolios of CAI's research partners, CAI and a 15-member committee of industry experts and investors selected 20+ de-risked inventions around which startups will be launched from the Brain Race. Funding for the Brain Race is provided by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation's Resonance Philanthropies -- led by brain tumor survivor, Sheri Sobrato -- and The Brain Tumour Charity -- based in the United Kingdom.

Dr. David Jenkinson, Chief Scientific Officer for The Brain Tumour Charity, said: "This is a crucial and exciting stage of the Brain Race. Together with our partners at CAI, we've identified the projects we believe have the most potential to accelerate change for everyone affected by a brain tumour. Now we're looking forward to seeing the semi-finalists develop their ideas and inventions in more detail over the coming months as we work towards the final phase of this groundbreaking global process, which we're immensely proud to support."

To recruit participants to the Brain Race, CAI "crowdsourced" top talent from across the world through a multi-channel cross-media campaign. This campaign included 14 "roadshows" at universities, as well as startup accelerators and incubators, across the US and the UK. Brain Race teams represent 14 countries, 19 states, and the District of Columbia. >20% of the Brain Race teams are based outside of the US. There are no restrictions on where startups launched from the Brain Race may be planted.

Leading professionals from key stakeholder groups advise, mentor, and judge the teams throughout the Brain Race as "Advocates". CAI and Brain Race Advocates coach teams on entrepreneurship and startups via webinars, which are recorded and made available to entrepreneurial teams to watch at their convenience. Brain Race Advocates can be viewed at http://www.brainrace.org/advocates. CAI will continue to enroll Advocates throughout the Brain Race at https://www.jotform.com/CAIStartups/advocate.

Rosemarie Truman, Founder and CEO of CAI, said: "The Brain Race and all CAI challenges are made possible by the support of our Advocates and sponsors, who believe strongly in giving back. Brain Race winners will be expected to give back to the brain tumor community, not only by advancing breakthrough solutions and fostering entrepreneurial spirit, but also by sharing some of their successes -- as exemplified by the Sobrato family."

Although the entry deadline for Brain Race teams has closed, semi-finalist teams may add members throughout the competition. To apply to a Brain Race team, please visit http://bit.ly/thebrainrace.

SOURCE The Center for Advancing Innovation