The Innovation Challenge is an open invitation to innovators worldwide, from pre-seed to Series A companies, to present their groundbreaking solutions across various fields, including pain management, nutrition, sleep medicine, and more.

Every year, the “Shark Tank” style pitch competition pits established startups, aspiring healthcare entrepreneurs, and researchers against one another with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of people living with pain.

Presented by the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), combined with the resources and support of the world’s most prestigious healthcare innovation group, MIT Hacking Medicine, the Innovation Challenge is one of the most exciting annual events in the pain medicine space.

Finalists will pitch their solution before an of audience of patients, providers, and industry leaders, offering prizes, mentorship, and exposure to propel innovations forward.

Our Founding Sponsors include Abbott and Saluda Medical – two incredibly innovative companies on the cutting edge of neuromodulation in pain medicine and digital health.

We want to create an innovation ecosystem capable of catalyzing lasting change in pain management and making a tangible difference in the lives of those affected by pain.

Join us in this journey of discovery and innovation, where your ideas can lead to transformative solutions in pain medicine.

If your solution can change the lives of those living with pain, we want to hear from you.

The event is not limited to AAPM members and is open to all innovators worldwide attempting to help patients and providers address pain-related issues. We want to encourage anyone with an idea or an established startup to submit their ideas and pitches, including students, residents, fellows, clinical and research faculty, engineers, designers, developers, business leaders, and patients.

Eligibility

• Anyone over age 18
• Anywhere in the world
• We are in interested in all submissions from idea stage to advanced stage start-ups

This year’s competition will be held at the Austin Hilton in Austin, TX on April 5th 2025.

The application will close on January 1st, 2025 11:59pm. We will review all submissions and reach out to the finalists (teams that we have selected to pitch) by February 6th, 2025.

Judges will meet with winning teams to provide mentorship and support in furthering their idea. Judges for this year’s pitch competition will include:

• Sachin Jain, SCAN Health
• Tyler Best, ARPA-H
• Chris Stock, Health2047
• Dan Brounstein, Saluda
• Allen Burton, Abbott
• Amy Goldstein
• Sean Day, Rock Health

The focus of your idea/team/start-up must be based on addressing challenges in pain medicine, acute, chronic, or otherwise–the topic is broad and we would like to see a broad array of approaches and solutions from various backgrounds.

Potential for Impact (25%)

• Each submission will be rated on the strength of its potential to improve the health of individuals and/or communities specific to pain medicine diagnosis defined above.
• Applications will be rated on their ability to address a specific need and potential for further development.

Design and Usability (25%)

• Each submission will be rated on how well it meets the specific needs of its intended user.
• User-friendliness and human-centered design.
• Priority may be given to submissions that are easily accessible to a range of patients and on a variety of platforms.

Solution Feasibility (25%)

• Solution will be rated on the presented market analysis and proposed plan for development, growth, scale, and sustainability.

Creativity and Innovation (25%)

• Each submission will be rated for the degree of creativity and innovation compared with existing solutions.

• 1 Grand Prize – Subhash Jain Award
• 1 Runner-up Prize – MM Sadipe Entrepreneurship Award
• Sponsor Award –selected and presented solely by one major sponsor

Subhash Jain Award

Subhash Jain was an internationally renowned leader in pain management and an early member of the American Academy of Pain Management. A native of Jodhpur, Rajasthan and a graduate of Jaipur’s SMS Medical College, Dr. Jain immigrated to the United States in the 1970s to pursue advanced clinical training in surgery and anesthesiology. Dr. Jain quickly established himself as a leader in the field of pain management, having founded and directed the clinical pain management program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Since 1994, Dr. Jain was annually listed in New York Magazine’s Best Doctors guide and, also in the guidebook, Best Doctors in America. He trained over 100 pain management physicians through a fellowship he established; lectured internationally; and authored over 100 original articles and book chapters. He was also founder and chair of the department of pain and palliative care at Hackensack University Medical Center and practiced pain management in New York and New Jersey until his retirement in 2019. Dr. Jain’s leadership was recognized by SMS Medical College with a Distinguished Alumni Award and by the the Indian Pain Society, who honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. In 2011, he received a similar distinction from the American Pain Society. Dr. Jain passed away in November 2023 and the Subhash Jain Award was dedicated in his honor in April 2024.

MM Sadipe Award

Chief Michael Modupe Sadipe was born on the 12th of December 1914 in Ondo, a major town in Ondo State Nigeria. Following his early education he relocated from his hometown to the Lagos the then capital of Nigeria to seek his fortune. In the mid 1950`s he founded his first Trading company named after him MM SADIPE & SONS trading as a major distributor in high quality building materials such as Cement, Marble, Paint and Tiles. He was very successful and thereafter expanded his enterprise to include a concrete building block making factory to support the rapidly growing real-estate industry at the time. Following the Independence of Nigeria in 1960 and in anticipation of massive infrastructure development, he founded his largest enterprise the Nigerian Concrete Industries Ltd (NCI) in 1962 with his invited German engineer partners. In spite of fact that he did not have an engineering background or college degree, he rapidly developed NCI into the largest and most reputable national manufacturer of large industrial-grade pre-fabricated concrete building structures for the construction of bridges, street lighting structures, large buildings such as the National Stadium and the National Arts Theatre with the company branches in 4 of the 12 states in the country at the time. Until his death on the 17^th of July 1979 he served as the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of NCI. The company was subsequently taken over and run by his children. His rise from humble beginnings to become one of the most successful industrialists of his time was a testament to his tenacity – the hallmark of all great entrepreneurs. The MM Sadipe Entrepreneurship Award was dedicated in his honor in March 2023.