The MIT Water Innovation Prize is a startup competition focused on water innovation that awards up to $50K in innovation grants annually to student-led teams from across the country and internationally. The Prize started in 2015 and has since awarded $225K across 21 winning teams.
As the main innovation-focused event of MIT Water Club, we help emerging entrepreneurs translate research & ideas into businesses, access mentors & resources, and build networks in the water industry. All approaches to water innovation are welcome, from engineering and product design to policy and data analytics. Application deadline is January 14, 2022.
General Rules
-
The entry must involve a technology, product, service, or process aimed at solving a problem related to the world’s water challenges. The water space has numerous opportunities and challenges to solve related to policy, technology, data sensing, analytics, implementation, financing, end-to-end solutions, etc. We encourage diverse and creative submissions.
-
A team must be comprised of at least one student who is fully enrolled at any college or university, and it must be a student who presents the pitch.
-
At least one student presenter from the team must be available to attend a our final pitch event in May, 2021.
-
Teams are not eligible to participate in the Spring 2021 MIT Water Innovation Prize if they have secured combined funding, grants, prize money, or revenue greater than $100k (exclusive of funding explicitly awarded for research, technology, or product development).
-
Entering teams must be prepared to provide documentation to validate any claims that are made concerning the intellectual property underlying their business plans, including any claims concerning the licensing of Third-Party IP. Entries should be made with the full understanding of MIT’s regulations on Intellectual Property Rights.
-
Innovations at all stages are welcome to apply; however, past winners of the prize have been able to demonstrate the potential to take their innovation to market within a reasonable time horizon (~5yrs).
This application indicates your team’s request to compete in the 2021-2022 MIT Water Innovation Prize. Participants will be paired with mentors as they prepare a business plan and final presentation, culminating in a Final Pitch Night to a panel of judges in April, 2022. At least one student team member MUST be available to pitch in the Final Pitch Night.
The winners of the MIT Water Innovation Prize will be awarded innovation grants of up to $50,000.