NeXT Pitch Competition
Pitch Your Neurotechnology, Blockchain, eXtended Reality (XR) Ideas
Overview
The Neurotechnology Exploration Team proposes to host a pitch competition on April 20th, 2022. Neurotechnology is a rapidly growing and highly multidisciplinary field with new businesses and capital rapidly flowing into the space. During the last 8 years, the amount of investments in NeuroTech companies increased seven times from $1.1 billion in 2014 to $7.1 billion in 2021, which shows that interest in the NeuroTech industry is steadily growing (Neurotech Analytics Ltd).
Neurotechnology has a great potential to help people and revolutionize the way we live, which is why it is so crucial to show the next generation of doers the potential of this technology and industry. It is driving new innovations across many industries including medicine, cognitive enhancement, and metaverse technologies like extended reality (XR), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). We want this pitch competition to be a way for students to think creatively about brain-computer interfaces, neurotechnology and XR technologies and their applicability in future technology landscapes. All current RIT students are eligible to participate in the competition.
Competition Rules:
All current RIT students are eligible to compete
Teams may only pitch once
Individuals may be a part of a maximum of two teams
Reward will be split 50/50 between NXT and the winning teams
Teams may divide their portion of the funding amongst individual members however they see fit (NXT is not responsible for this)
Participants/teams must complete a form notifying event coordinators of their concept no later than March 31st at 11:59PM.
Slides must be shared with and an email notifying event coordinators of the slidedeck must be sent to neurotechnologyexploration@gmail.com
Judging Criteria
A group of industry professionals with backgrounds in neurotechnology/neuroscience, entrepreneurship, venture capital, and technology development will be selected to judge the competition. Judges may be in person or over video chat. Their scores will be recorded in a spreadsheet which will automatically calculate a winner. If there is a tie, the judges will have a secondary vote. The president of NXT will announce the winners of the event.
Pitch Format
Pitch Slides
Contestants will present with a slide deck that they create on their own. It may not include videos or audio. They will have the freedom to create these slides however they wish, but we will provide recommendations that they adopt elements of standard business pitch slides which will be provided in a template.
Template:
Contestants will be sent a template slide deck including example basic business information typical of a pitch slide deck.
Time
Contestants will be cut off at the 6-minute mark.
Awards
Prizes will be in the amounts listed below. Within these amounts, half will be given to NXT to use for the project or general club use. The other half will go to the participant(s) of the winning teams.
Sponsorship
Sponsors of the NXT event will have their branding represented on all promotional materials and media. Financial sponsorship will support the Neurotechnology Exploration Team’s continued efforts to provide students with hands-on learning about neurotechnology. Donation of technology will be provided to student teams.
How to sponsor:
Online Portal (Donate by credit card or PayPal):
Notify NXT members, the club president, and the advisor by email of sponsorship details
neurotechnologyexploration@gmail.com
arb8590@g.rit.edu (Alex Burbano, President)
dpbeee@rit.edu (Dr. Dan Phillips, Club Advisor)
Go to this link: https://tigers.rit.edu/site/SPageNavigator/RIT_donate.html
Select “Additional Designations”
Search for and select BCI Mind Controlled Computing NXT
Check “This is a corporate gift” (if applicable)
Input company name
Input information from person carrying out the sponsorship/donation
Submit
***Donations are non-refundable
Sponsorship/Donation Via Check
Notify NXT members, the club president, and the advisor by email of sponsorship details
neurotechnologyexploration@gmail.com
arb8590@g.rit.edu (Alex Burbano, President)
dpbeee@rit.edu (Dr. Dan Phillips, Club Advisor)
Provide
Your organization’s name
Your organization’s mailing address
The title of the individual from your organization connected connected with the donation
Checks will be made out to:
Pay to the order of: RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology)
Memo line: Neurotechnology Exploration Team
Checks should be addressed to:
Rochester Institute of Technology - Neurotechnology Exploration Team
Attn: Dawn Rizzo
Campus Center Bldg.03 – Room 1610
127 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, NY 14623-5608
Hardware/Software Donations:
Please reach out to the following people to organize product donations:
neurotechnologyexploration@gmail.com
arb8590@g.rit.edu (Alex Burbano, President)
dpbeee@rit.edu (Dr. Dan Phillips, Club Advisor)
2022 winners
1st Place: Hannah Henczel and Tim Carr
2nd Place: Hannah Henczel, Sandhya Vaidyanathan, Eric Choi , Leanna Frasch, Luca Chiossone
3rd Place: Justin Vida