Develop an innovative proof of concept for a smart device, sensing technology, digital health solution, or integrated sensing ecosystem that generates AI-ready data to improve chronic disease prevention, early detection, monitoring, or intervention at the individual, community, or population level.

Solutions should demonstrate how biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, community, and place-based data can be collected, integrated, and transformed into actionable insights that improve understanding of chronic disease disparities and support precision prevention and public health decision-making.

Participants should demonstrate how their proposed technology advances beyond current sensing approaches by improving interoperability, data integration, continuous monitoring, population representation, scalability, and the ability to generate AI-ready data for research and public health applications. Participants can develop technologies from scratch or reimagine existing technologies/devices to monitor and/or mitigate whole person chronic disease disparities and/or improve public health.

Objective 1. Develop or Reimagine an Innovative Smart Device or Sensing Technology Concept - Design a novel or reimagined smart device, sensing technology, digital health solution, or integrated sensing ecosystem that addresses a significant unmet need in chronic disease prevention, detection, monitoring, or intervention.

Objective 2. Design an AI-Ready Whole-Person Data Ecosystem - Develop a concept for generating continuous, interoperable, AI-ready whole-person (exposome) data by integrating biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, community, and place-based information to support research and public health applications.

Objective 3. Advance Technology-Enabled Whole-Person Monitoring - Demonstrate how the proposed sensing technology will improve the measurement of health and disease at the individual and/or population level through continuous monitoring, multimodal sensing, and integration of diverse health-related data streams.

Objective 4. Advance Computational Innovation - Design innovative computational methods that transform sensing data into actionable knowledge using advanced analytics, signal processing, explainable AI, digital biomarkers, predictive modeling, geospatial analytics, or other emerging computational approaches.

Objective 5. Demonstrate Scientific and Public Health Value - Describe how the proposed technology could improve understanding of chronic disease mechanisms, identify emerging risks, enable earlier detection, support precision prevention, strengthen public health surveillance, enhance treatments and reduce chronic disease disparities.

Objective 6. Promote Interoperability and Scalability - Develop a conceptual architecture demonstrating how the proposed technology will integrate with SCHARE and other interoperable research ecosystems through standardized data exchange, cloud infrastructure, APIs, and reusable workflows.

Objective 7. Establish Technical Feasibility - Develop a realistic roadmap for advancing the proof of concept into a functional prototype, including technical milestones, validation strategy, anticipated risks, and expected Phase II deliverables.

Purpose

The purpose of Phase II is to develop, validate, and demonstrate a functional, operational smart device, sensing technology, digital health solution, or integrated sensing ecosystem that generates AI-ready whole-person data to support chronic disease prevention, early detection, monitoring, health care delivery, treatment(s), and public health decision-making at the individual and/or population levels.

Building upon the Phase I concept, participants will deliver a working product that demonstrates technical performance, interoperability, usability, scalability, and the ability to generate actionable insights through advanced data science and artificial intelligence. Products should be suitable for deployment in relevant population groups, research, healthcare, community, or public health settings and capable of integrating with SCHARE and other interoperable research ecosystems.

Objectives

Objective 1. Develop a Functional Product - Design, build, and validate a fully functional smart device, sensing technology, digital health application, software platform, or integrated sensing ecosystem that addresses an important chronic disease challenge.

Objective 2. Generate AI-Ready Whole-Person Data - Demonstrate that the product continuously generates interoperable, high-quality, AI-ready data by integrating biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, community, and place-based information.

Objective 3. Demonstrate Intelligent Analytics - Implement and validate computational methods that transform sensing data into actionable insights using AI, machine learning, predictive analytics, digital biomarkers, explainable AI, geospatial analytics, or other advanced computational approaches.

Objective 4. Demonstrate Individual and/or Population-Level Utility - Show that the product can support:

• Individual health monitoring and intervention
• Community or population-level surveillance, risk assessment, planning, and public health decision-making

Objective 5. Demonstrate Interoperability - Validate interoperability with SCHARE and other cloud-based research environments using standardized data exchange, APIs, and scalable workflows.

Objective 6. Deliver Reusable Research Infrastructure - Produce reusable technologies, software, workflows, dashboards, APIs, or data resources that can be adopted by researchers, healthcare systems, communities, and public health organizations.

The purpose of Phase I is to identify the most innovative concepts that have the potential to transform whole-person chronic disease research by creating AI-ready datasets, advancing computational methods, and developing reusable data science infrastructure.

Phase I focuses on the quality measure the quality, innovation, feasibility, and potential impact of the proposed concept from a new or re-imagined design.

Submissions will be evaluated by an independent panel of experts with backgrounds in chronic disease research, artificial intelligence, biomedical informatics, data science, statistics, computational biology, population health, cloud computing, and related disciplines. Participants receiving the highest overall scores and meeting the minimum advancement threshold will be invited to participate in Phase II.

Only projects that use data science strategies to address whole person (exposome) chronic disease disparity will be considered for this Challenge. Prefer to include the use of SCHARE data sets and resources.

• Scientific Vision and Problem Significance (10 Points) - Reviewers will evaluate whether the proposal clearly defines an important scientific and public health challenge. High-scoring proposals clearly articulate a compelling unmet need and explain why existing technologies are insufficient.

  Evaluation Criteria

  • Significance of the chronic disease or chronic disease risk factor
  • Importance of the individual and/or population health problem, including health disparity outcome metric to potentially be impacted
  • Appropriateness of the target population(s), including low SES, rural, disabled, etc.
  • Applicability points across the life span
  • Strength of the scientific rationale
  • Integration of a whole-person health framework
  • Fit for purpose across OMB defined racial and ethnic groups
  • Appropriateness of the intended AI and public health applications

• Qualifications of the Investigator, Team, or Entity (10 Points) Reviewers will evaluate whether the participant has the expertise, experience, and organizational capacity to successfully develop the proposed technology. Preference may be given to multidisciplinary teams that integrate engineering, data science, clinical, behavioral, environmental, chronic disease, health disparities and public health expertise.

  Evaluation Criteria

  • Scientific and Technical Expertise (examples)
    • Experience in smart device or sensing technology development
    • Engineering expertise
    • Digital health technology expertise
    • Artificial intelligence and machine learning expertise
    • Data science and computational analytics expertise
    • Biomedical informatics expertise
    • Chronic disease research expertise
    • Whole-person health research expertise
    • Behavioral Health expertise
    • Non-medical drivers of health expertise
    • Public health expertise
    • Clinical expertise (when applicable)
  • Multidisciplinary Collaboration (examples)
    • Complementary expertise across team members
    • Evidence of successful multidisciplinary collaboration
    • Partnerships with academic institutions, healthcare systems, community organizations, or industry (when applicable)
  • Organizational Capacity (examples)
    • Ability to develop, test, and validate the proposed technology
    • Access to technical infrastructure and facilities
    • Experience managing similar projects
    • Ability to complete the proposed work within the project period

  • Roles and Responsibilities

    The proposal should clearly describe the qualifications, roles, and expected contributions of each investigator, collaborator, partner, or participating organization.

• Technology Innovation, AI Infrastructure, and Computational Design (50 Points)

  Evaluation Criteria

  • Technical Innovation and Sensing Technology Concept Reviewers will evaluate the novelty and technical merit of the proposed technology. Projects should clearly demonstrate why the proposed technology represents a substantial advancement over existing approaches, including aspects, such as.
    • Originality of the concept
    • New or reimagined sensing technology
    • Device innovation
    • Sensor innovation
    • Environmental or community sensing capabilities
    • Mobile, cloud, or edge computing technologies
    • AI-ready data generation strategy
    • Data collection strategy
    • Interoperability strategy
    • Potential to advance beyond current technologies
  • Conceptual Architecture, Interoperability, and AI-Ready Data Strategy Reviewers will assess the proposed architecture and strategy for producing interoperable, AI-ready data. Higher scores should be awarded to proposals demonstrating seamless integration across devices, cloud platforms, and research ecosystems, while producing high-quality AI-ready data. Examples include:
    • Device and system architecture
    • Data flow
    • Cloud infrastructure
    • Interoperability
    • SCHARE integration
    • Individual- and population-level data streams
    • AI-ready data strategy
    • Metadata and standards
    • Scalability and reusability
  • Computational Strategy - Reviewers will evaluate the proposed computational methods. Examples include:
    • Signal processing
    • AI analytics
    • Digital biomarkers
    • Population surveillance
    • Predictive analytics
    • Explainable AI
    • Geospatial analytics
    • Integration of multiple sensing modalities
    • Computational innovation
    • Scalability
  • Human-Centered Design and Population Applicability - Reviewers will evaluate as applicable
    • User-centered design process
    • Applicability across diverse populations
    • Representation of populations experiencing chronic disease disparities
    • Adaptability across age groups
    • Adaptability across sexes
    • Adaptability across geographic settings
    • Adaptability across socioeconomic context
    • Flexibility across healthcare settings
    • Community implementation
    • Home-based use
    • Public health applications
    • Adaptability to multiple chronic diseases
    • Scalability to larger populations

• Prototype Development Roadmap and Technical Feasibility (20 Points) Reviewers will evaluate the feasibility of successfully developing the Phase II prototype.

  Evaluation Criteria

  • Technical milestones
  • Development timeline
  • Risk assessment
  • Risk mitigation strategies
  • Validation strategy
  • Feasibility of the proposed prototype
  • Potential scalable impact
  • Readiness for Phase II

• Potential Impact (10 points) Reviewers will assess potential impact of the proposed tool and strategy to develop a transformative tool

  Evaluation Criteria

  • Scientific Impact Reviewers will evaluate the potential of the proposed innovation to advance science of chronic disease disparities, mitigate chronic disease disparities, and/or improve public health outcomes. Will the proposed device/technology (for example):
    • Advance whole-person chronic disease research?
    • Address a significant unmet scientific or public health need?
    • Improve understanding of disease mechanisms?
    • Support earlier detection, prevention, monitoring, or treatment?
    • Improve health at the individual and population levels?
    • Reduce chronic disease disparities?
    • Enable AI-driven scientific discovery?
    • Improve public health decision-making?
  • Innovation Impact and Transformative Potential Reviewers will evaluate the broader potential of the proposed innovation. Will the proposed technology (for example):
    • Likelihood of broad adoption
    • Integration into existing workflows
    • Potential for long-term sustainability
    • Measure previously unobservable exposures?
    • Capture new whole-person interactions?
    • Generate new AI-ready data resources?
    • Reveal previously unknown disease mechanisms?
    • Enable new intervention opportunities?
    • Produce reusable technologies or research infrastructure?
    • Transform future research, healthcare, or public health practice?

Review Criterion:

1. Product Functionality and Validation Report Quality (20 Points) - Question: Does the product function as intended and demonstrate technical readiness? Outstanding products should demonstrate reliable, repeatable performance and be suitable for deployment in research or public health settings.

   Reviewers will evaluate, as applicable:

   • Functionality of the smart device, sensing technology, or digital health solution
   • Accuracy and reliability of measurements
   • Performance under expected operating conditions
   • Technical maturity and stability
   • Continuous or real-time data collection capabilities
   • Data transmission and storage performance
   • Security and privacy protections (where applicable)
   • Evidence that the product performs consistently for all relevant populations

2. Technology Innovation, AI Infrastructure, and Computations (20 Points)

   Technology Innovation and Product Design - Question: Does the product represent a meaningful advancement over existing technologies? Preference will be given to products that substantially improve current approaches rather than incrementally modifying existing technologies.

   • Originality of the technology
   • Novel sensing capabilities
   • Innovative engineering or product design
   • New or reimagined sensing approaches
   • Integration of multiple sensing modalities
   • User-centered design
   • Potential to solve an important unmet need
   • Advancement beyond current commercial or research technologies

   AI-Ready Data Generation and Data Quality - Question: Does the product generate high-quality data suitable for AI and advanced analytics? Higher scores will be awarded to products that generate interoperable, reusable, and well-documented AI-ready data. Examples:

   • Data quality and completeness
   • AI readiness of generated datasets
   • Metadata completeness
   • Data provenance
   • Common data elements and standards
   • Interoperability of data
   • Feature engineering
   • Population representation
   • Data quality assurance procedures
   • Documentation supporting reuse

   Computational Analytics and AI Capability - Question: Does the product effectively transform sensing data into actionable knowledge? Projects should demonstrate that computational methods provide meaningful insights beyond simple data collection. The information collected will likely impact and reduce chronic disease disparities. Examples as applicable:

   • Signal processing methods
   • AI and machine learning integration
   • Digital biomarker development
   • Predictive analytics
   • Explainable AI
   • Geospatial analytics
   • Population surveillance capabilities
   • Multimodal data integration
   • Computational efficiency
   • Scientific rigor of analytical methods
3. Human-Centered Design, Population Generalizability, & Adaptability(20 Points) - Question: Is the human at the center of the design? Can the product improve health at both the individual and population levels? Products should clearly demonstrate value for both research and real-world individual and/or public health applications to improve health outcomes related to chronic disease disparities. Examples as applicable:
   • Uses a human-centered design approach that is accessible, intuitive, and appropriate for intended users and settings.
   • Demonstrates population generalizability across diverse populations, including those experiencing chronic disease disparities.
   • Integrates whole-person factors (biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, and community) to improve representativeness and AI-ready data.
   • Is adaptable across multiple chronic diseases, healthcare, community, and public health settings.
   • Includes strategies to minimize bias, improve representation, and ensure consistent performance across populations.
   • Has a clear pathway for implementation, scalability, and adoption by researchers, healthcare systems, or public health agencies.
   • Integration into SCHARE
4. Scientific Impact on Chronic Disease Disparities Report (20 Points) Question: Does the proposed innovation enable new scientific discoveries or capabilities beyond current technologies?
   • Addresses a significant unmet need in chronic disease prevention, detection, monitoring, or intervention.
   • Advances whole-person chronic disease research by integrating biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, and community factors.
   • Improves understanding of disease mechanisms and supports AI-enabled discovery.
   • Supports earlier detection, precision prevention, intervention planning, and improved health outcomes at the individual and population levels.
   • Enhances existing technologies or devices through improved functionality, usability, or interoperability.
   • Demonstrates utility for individual health monitoring, community health assessment, population surveillance, or public health decision-making.
   • Has the potential to reduce chronic disease disparities through broad applicability and real-world implementation.

5. Interoperability Usability, Adoptability and Sustainability (20 Points)

   Interoperability - Question: Can the product integrate into interoperable research ecosystems? Higher scores will be awarded to products designed for broad interoperability and future expansion. Examples:

   • SCHARE Integration
   • Standards-based interoperability
   • APIs or Model Context Protocol (MCP) support
   • Cloud compatibility
   • Data exchange capabilities
   • Scalability across platforms
   • Reusable workflows
   • Compatibility with other research infrastructures

   Product Validation, Usability, and User Experience - Question: Has the product been validated and is it practical for intended users? Products should demonstrate they are practical, intuitive, and ready for use in research or public health settings. Examples:

   • Product validation results
   • Technical testing
   • Usability testing
   • User interface design
   • Accessibility
   • Ease of deployment
   • Documentation
   • User training materials

   Reusable Research Resources and Readiness - Question: Does the project produce reusable resources and demonstrate readiness for full-scale validation? Preference will be given to projects that provide durable resources that can be broadly adopted by the researchers, providers, individuals or communities to improve individual or public health outcomes. Examples:

   • Reusable software
   • APIs or MCPs
   • Python or R code
   • Notebook collections
   • Dashboards
   • Documentation
   • AI-ready datasets
   • Computational workflows
   • Readiness for large-scale model testing for generalizable validation

Projects advancing to Phase II should present a compelling vision for a next-generation smart device or sensing technology that goes beyond incremental improvement. Selected concepts should demonstrate the potential to generate AI-ready whole-person data, integrate seamlessly into interoperable research ecosystems, such as SCHARE, support AI-enabled discovery, and improve chronic disease prevention, monitoring, and intervention at both the individual and population levels. The deliverable should function as a strategic design package that provides reviewers with confidence that the concept can mature into a transformative resource through the subsequent prove and produce phase. To advance to Phase II, participants should demonstrate:

• An average score higher than 80 to be considered
• A multidisciplinary team with the expertise required to execute the project successfully.
• A compelling scientific vision with high potential for impact on chronic disease and health disparity outcomes.
• A clear plan for developing reusable tools, workflows, and research infrastructure that can benefit the broader scientific community.
• A feasible plan for developing and validating a functional prototype in Phase II.

Participants should demonstrate that they have successfully developed:

• A fully functional product, not simply a conceptual prototype.
• A product capable of generating continuous, interoperable, AI-ready whole-person data.
• Validated computational methods that transform sensing data into meaningful health insights.
• A solution that supports individual-level care and/or population-level impacts or surveillance.
• User-friendly tools that can be adopted by researchers, healthcare systems, public health agencies, or communities.
• Reusable software, workflows, APIs, dashboards, or data resources that strengthen AI-enabled research infrastructure.
• A product that is technically robust, scalable, interoperable, and ready for comprehensive model testing and real-world

Preference will be given to projects that deliver validated, interoperable, scalable, and reusable technologies and devices that can be integrated into SCHARE and broadly adopted by the scientific community to accelerate whole-person chronic disease disparities mitigation.

If scores are tied, priority will be given to projects demonstrating:

1. Greater potential to reduce chronic disease disparities
2. Utilization of SCHARE
3. Stronger integration of whole-person health concepts
4. Broader scalability and public health impact
5. Stronger evidence of trustworthy AI and responsible innovation

Registration Process:

All interested Participants must register on the official challenge portal by going to https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/Lp3sWGLj4F and register for prize payment https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration by the registration deadline on 12/18/2026.

Once the registrant is deemed eligible, a link to a secure BOX folder specified for you/your team will be sent, so you can upload your submissions. This will enable large files to be submitted if needed.

The Individual, Team Leader or Point of Contact must register on the Challenge website.

Upon registering, participants will be required to identify whether they are registering as either of the following: as an individual, independent Team (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together but not on behalf of an established organization, institution, or corporation) or as an Entity (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together on behalf of a legally established organization, institution, or corporation). Participants will need to provide the name, affiliation, and contact information of all individuals competing in this Challenge as part of a Team or on behalf of an Entity. All Participants will also be required to acknowledge whether federal funding will be used in the development of the Challenge submission (see Participation Rule 1). All Participants must certify they have read, understand, and agree to abide by the official eligibility rules, participation rules, and requirements for the Challenge as stated in this announcement.

Submission Process:

For your submission to be eligible for judging, you must:

You must be a U.S. citizen.

Be eligible to compete as an Individual or as part of a Team or Entity (see Eligibility Rules).

For Teams: Each participating Team is required to identify a Team Leader who will register and submit on behalf of the Team members. The Team Leader is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors and, in the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid in full. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Team Leader must be a citizen of the United States. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Team Leader who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.

For Entities: Each participating Entity is required to identify a Point of Contact who will register and submit on behalf of the Entity. The Point of Contact is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly to the Entity, not to the Point of Contact. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Entity must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. As stated in the Participation Rules, Participants intending to use Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction (OT) award funds must register for and participate in the Challenge as an Entity on behalf of the awardee institution or organization. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Point of Contact who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.

• Phase I —  IMAGINE: Proposal Submission
  • Upload your responsive Proposal and supporting documents in PDF format through the designated Box Folder provided after eligibility determination by the due date February 15, 2027.
  • All submissions must be written in English and cannot be handwritten.
  • Submissions must not include the HHS’ logo or official seal or the logo of NIH or any of its components and must not claim federal government endorsement.
  • Submissions to Phase 1 must follow the structure outlined below and adhere to the stated page limits. Do not include any proprietary or confidential information in the Title, Executive Summary, and Plain Language sections as they may be publicly shared if the participant is selected to win a prize across any phase of this Challenge (see Participation Rule 7)
  • Components must not claim federal government endorsement.
  • Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.
  • Each Individual or Team may only propose 1 solution. An Entity may submit multiple entries provided there isn’t substantial overlap in team members, the team leaders are not the same, and each entry has a distinct and separate focus. 

Proposal Submission Format

• ✓ COVER PAGE (1 page)
  • Submission Title
  • Individual/Team/Entity Name 
  • Team/Entity location (City, State)
• ✓  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1 page): Provide a concise summary of your proposed solution, emphasizing its significance, innovation, human-relevance, and feasibility. Note that the winners’ Executive Summary section will be shared publicly.
• ✓  PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY (0.5 page): Provide a summary of your submission that can be easily understood by a general audience. Describe your technical proposal in a manner that ensures the main ideas and impacts are clear and accessible to those without specialized knowledge or technical background in the field. This summary will be made public for winners and used for broader dissemination to inform the public about the will be contributions and significance of your work. Not included in total page limit.
• ✓  CONCEPTUAL IMPACT PATHWAY (1 page) example:
  • Invent or Reimagine Next-Generation Smart Devices & Sensing Technologies
    ↓
  • Build Connected Individual & Population Sensing Ecosystems
    ↓
  • Generate Continuous AI-Ready Whole-Person Data
    ↓
  • Integrate Data Through Interoperable Cloud Infrastructure (e.g., SCHARE)
    ↓
  • Enable AI-Driven Discovery of Disease Mechanisms and Emerging Risks
    ↓
  • Develop Precision Prevention, Monitoring, and Intervention Strategies
    ↓
  • Transform Individual Care and Population Health
    ↓
  • Reduce Chronic Disease Disparities
• ✓ TECHNOLOGY ILLUSTRATION OR MOCK-UP (1 page)
• ✓ INVESTIGATOR OR TEAM OR ENTITY – provide qualification and contribution of each member. Investigators should have expertise to address all aspects of the project. No more than 2 pages per key team members. Not included in total pages. Attach as appendix.
• ✓ PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND DATA (12) pages, including all figures, tables, and data, but excluding references. Below are suggestions for clarity:
  • Overview – Scientific Vision and Problem Significance - Describe the vision of how the proposed technology or device will address issues such as:
    • Chronic disease(s) or chronic disease risk factors being addressed
    • Individual and/or population health problem tool can solve
    • Target population(s) – Individual or Population-level
    • Scientific rationale for this proposed approach
    • Proposed sensing technology or integrated sensing ecosystem
    • Whole-person health framework
    • Intended AI and public health applications

  • Innovation Canvas, AI Infrastructure, and Computational Design – Describe concepts such as:

    Technical Concept

    • New or re-imagined
    • Device(s) or sensing technologies
    • Sensors and measurements
    • Mobile or cloud technologies
    • Environmental or community sensing
    • Data collection strategy
    • Interoperability strategy
    • AI-ready data strategy

    Conceptual Architecture

    • Device architecture
    • Data flow
    • Results impact of chronic disease disparities
    • Cloud infrastructure
    • Interoperability
    • Individual- and population-level data streams

    Computational Strategy to mitigate chronic disease disparities

    • Signal processing
    • AI analytics
    • Digital biomarkers
    • Population surveillance
    • Predictive analytics
    • Explainable AI
    • Geospatial analytics
    • Integration of multiple sensing modalities

  • Human-Centered Design, Population Generalizability, and Adaptability - Describe relevance to individual health or population health for all, address factors, such as:

    Human-Centered Design

    • User-centered design process
    • Stakeholder engagement
    • Accessibility
    • Ease of use
    • Workflow integration

    Population Generalizability

    • Applicability across diverse populations
    • Representation of populations experiencing chronic disease disparities
    • Adaptability across age groups
    • Adaptability across sexes
    • Adaptability across geographic settings
    • Adaptability across socioeconomic contexts

    Adaptability

    • Flexibility across healthcare settings
    • Community implementation
    • Home-based use
    • Public health applications
    • Adaptability to multiple chronic diseases
    • Scalability to larger populations

    Applicability Performance

    • Consistency of device performance across populations
    • Identification of potential sources of bias
    • Strategies for improving representation
    • Validation across diverse users

    Adoption Potential

    • Likelihood of broad adoption
    • Integration into existing workflows
    • Integration into SCHARE
    • Potential for long-term sustainability
  • Prototype Development Roadmap – Provide clear context addressing how the tool will be developed and timelines, include elements such as:
    • Technical milestones
    • Development timeline
    • Risks
    • Validation strategy
    • Expected Phase II product

  • Utility and Proposed Impact – Describe the likely impact that becomes possible because of the proposed innovation to mitigate a chronic disease disparity and advance device or technological development.

    Utility of the technology/device on Chronic Disease Disparity Mitigation Advance whole-person chronic disease research

    • Address a significant unmet need
    • Improve understanding of disease mechanisms
    • Support earlier detection, prevention, monitoring, or intervention
    • Improve health at the individual and population levels
    • Reduce chronic disease disparities
    • Enable AI-enabled discovery
    • Advance public health decision-making
    • Enhance current technologies or devices
    • Utility for individual health monitoring
    • Utility for community or population health outcomes impact or surveillance
    • Support for precision prevention
    • Support for intervention planning
    • Relevance to public health decision-making

    Innovation Impact and Transformative Potential - For example:

    • Measures previously unobservable biological, behavioral, environmental, or community exposures.
    • Reveals new whole-person interactions that influence chronic disease.
    • Identifies novel disease mechanisms or actionable intervention targets.
    • Expands the ability to simulate, predict, or evaluate disease progression and intervention outcomes.
    • Represents a transformative advancement with broad applicability across research, healthcare, and public health.
    • Likelihood of broad adoption

Submission Requirements:

Each solver must submit:

• If any team or entity members changed, complete and submit the Registration Form. https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/Lp3sWGLj4F 
• Upload your responsive Proposal and supporting documents in PDF or MP4 format through the designated Box Folder provided after eligibility determination by the due date October 29, 2027.
• All submissions must be written in English and cannot be handwritten.
• Submissions must not include the HHS’ logo or official seal or the logo of NIH or any of its components and must not claim federal government endorsement.
• Each Phase 2 solution must be based on each Individual/Team/Entities’ respective winning Phase 1 - Imagine proposal
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.

For your submission to be eligible for judging, you must:

• Be a Phase I winner.
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Be eligible to compete as an individual or as part of a Team or Entity (see Eligibility Rules).
• For Teams: Each participating Team is required to identify a Team Leader who will register and submit on behalf of the members. The Team Leader is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors and, in the event of winning a cash prize, will be paid the prize in full. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Team Leader must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Team Leader who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.
• For Entities: Each participating Entity is required to identify a Point of Contact who will register and submit on behalf of the Entity. The Point of Contact is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly to the Entity, not to the Point of Contact. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Entity must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. As stated in the Participation Rules, Participants intending to use Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction (OT) award funds must register for and participate in the Challenge as an Entity on behalf of the awardee institution or organization. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Point of Contact who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.

Final Submission Format

• Submission Packages must follow the structure outlined below and adhere to the stated page limits.  Do not include any proprietary or confidential information in the Title, Executive Summary, and Plain Language sections as they may be publicly shared if the participant is selected to win a prize across any phase of this Challenge (see Participation Rule 7)
• Requirements:
  • ✓  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1 page) Summary of Project in plain English, Anticipated Impact on Mitigating Chronic Disease Disparities, and Investigators roles
  • ✓  FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT (up to 6 pages) Technical Narrative and Description of Project – Document the complete product from design through validation. It should focus on what was built, how it works, and why it is ready for research, healthcare, or public health use.
    • Product Overview: Description of the final technology, intended users, target chronic disease(s), and use case(s).
    • Technical Design: Device architecture, sensing technologies, hardware/software components, cloud connectivity, and system integration.
    • Data Collection and AI-Ready Data: Types of data collected, data flow, interoperability, metadata, data quality, and AI-ready data generation.
    • Validation Results: Technical performance, accuracy, reliability, usability, interoperability, scalability, and testing outcomes.
  • ✓  COMPUTATIONAL ANALYTIC REPORT (up to 6 pages) Concisely explain how raw sensor data are transformed into actionable insights. Include information such as:
    • Data Processing Pipeline: Describe how raw sensor data are cleaned, harmonized, integrated, and transformed into AI-ready data.
    • Analytical Methods: Summarize computational methods used (e.g., signal processing, machine learning, predictive analytics, digital biomarkers, geospatial analytics, explainable AI), decision-support capabilities
    • Performance Metrics: Report computational accuracy, reliability, sensitivity, specificity, robustness, and computational efficiency, as applicable.
    • AI-Generated Insights: Demonstrate how the analytics identify health risks, disease patterns, behavioral trends, or environmental exposures relevant to chronic disease disparities.
    • Whole-Person Integration: Explain how biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, and community data are combined to generate actionable insights.
    • Validation and Generalizability: Describe how computational methods were tested across different populations, settings, or use cases and summarize validation results.
  • ✓  HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN, POPULATION GENERALIZABILITY, AND ADAPTABILITY (up to 4 pages)
    • Target Users and Intended Use: Describe the intended users (e.g., researchers, clinicians, community health workers, individuals, public health agencies) and the settings in which the technology will be used.
    • Human-Centered Design: Summarize how user needs, stakeholder feedback, and usability principles informed the design and development of the technology.
    • Population Generalizability: Demonstrate how the technology performs across diverse populations, including different ages, sexes, geographic regions, socioeconomic contexts, and populations experiencing chronic disease disparities.
    • Whole-Person Adaptability: Describe how the technology accommodates biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, and community factors that influence health.
    • Accessibility and Usability: Provide evidence that the technology is intuitive, accessible, and feasible for use in research, healthcare, community, and public health settings.
    • Practical for widespread adoption
    • Bias and Representation: Describe strategies used to evaluate and minimize measurement or algorithmic bias and improve population representation.
  • ✓  SCIENTIFIC IMPACT ON CHRONIC DISEASE DISPARITIES REPORT (up to 4 Pages)
    • Health Challenge Addressed: Describe the chronic disease(s), health disparity, and target population(s) addressed by the technology.
    • Scientific Advancement: Explain how the technology advances whole-person chronic disease research or enables new scientific discoveries beyond current approaches.
    • Mechanistic Insights: Summarize how the technology improves understanding of biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, or community factors contributing to chronic disease disparities.
    • Individual and Population Impact: Describe how the technology improves prevention, early detection, monitoring, intervention, or health outcomes at the individual and/or population level.
    • Public health relevance
    • Potential to improve chronic disease outcomes and impact a health disparity health outcome.
    • AI and Data Science Impact: Explain how the technology generates AI-ready data or supports AI-enabled discovery, predictive modeling, or decision support for an individual or for a population group.
  • ✓  INTEROPERABILITY, USABILITY, ADOPTABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY (up to 4 pages)
    • Interoperability: Describe how the technology integrates with SCHARE, electronic health records, cloud platforms, APIs, standards, and other research or public health systems.
    • Usability: Summarize user testing and demonstrate that the technology is intuitive, accessible, and easy to use for intended users (e.g., researchers, clinicians, community organizations, public health agencies, or individuals).
    • Adoptability: Describe the technology's readiness for implementation, including ease of deployment, workflow integration, training requirements, and potential for adoption across research, healthcare, community, and public health settings.
    • Scalability: Explain how the technology can be expanded across different populations, geographic locations, chronic diseases, organizations, and research environments.
    • Sustainability: Describe plans for long-term maintenance, software updates, technical support, governance, funding, and continued operation beyond the challenge period.
    • Reusability: Identify reusable products such as AI-ready datasets, APIs, computational workflows, software libraries, dashboards, documentation, or training materials that will be made available to the broader scientific community.
    • Translation and Adoption: Describe the potential for implementation in research, healthcare, community, or public health settings and its expected contribution to reducing chronic disease disparities.
  • ✓  SOLUTION DEMONSTRATION (up to one 15-minute video)

To be eligible to win a prize under this Challenge, a Participant (whether participating as an Individual, Team or Entity):

1. Shall have registered to participate in the Challenge under the rules promulgated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as published in this announcement;
2. Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in this announcement;
3. In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen. However, permanent residents, non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents can participate as a member of a team that otherwise satisfies the eligibility criteria. Non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents are not eligible to win a monetary prize (in whole or in part). Their participation as part of a winning team, if applicable, may be recognized when the results are announced.
4. Shall not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within the scope of their employment;
5. Shall not be an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, or any other component of HHS) acting in their personal capacity;
6. Who is employed by a federal agency or entity other than HHS (or any component of HHS), should consult with an agency ethics official to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a prize under this Challenge;
7. Shall not be a judge of the Challenge, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Challenge or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, step-parent, child, or step-child).
8. Shall be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission.

1. Federal grantees and recipients of cooperative agreements or other transaction (OT) awards are eligible to participate in the Challenge but may not use Federal funds from a grant award, cooperative agreement, or OT award to develop their Challenge submission or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submission unless use of such funds is consistent with the purpose, terms, and conditions of the grant award, cooperative agreement, or OT award. Each Participant intending to use Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award funds must register for and participate in the Challenge as an entity on behalf of the awardee institution, organization, or entity. If a winning Participant uses Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award funds to participate in the Challenge, the prize must be treated as program income for purposes of the original grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award in accordance with applicable Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards [2 CFR § 200]. Participants using Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award funds to participate and/or report prize funding as program income (for winning Participants) should coordinate with the awarding official at the federal awarding agency.
2. Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions.
3. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) agrees to assume any and all risks and waive claims against the federal government and its related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from participation in this Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
4. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) agrees Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.
5. Based on the subject matter of the Challenge, the type of work that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the likelihood of any claims for death, bodily injury, property damage, or loss potentially resulting from Challenge participation, no Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) participating in the Challenge is required to obtain liability insurance, or demonstrate financial responsibility, or agree to indemnify the federal government against third party claims for damages arising from or related to Challenge activities in order to participate in this Challenge.
6. A Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) shall not be deemed ineligible because the Participant used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during the Challenge if the facilities and employees are made available to all Participants participating in the Challenge on an equitable basis.
7. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) warrants that they are sole author or owner of, or has the right to use, any copyrightable works that the submission comprises, that the works are wholly original with the Participant (or is an improved version of an existing work that the Participant has sufficient rights to use and improve), and that the submission does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which the Participant is aware.
8. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) grants to the NIH an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free nonexclusive worldwide license to reproduce, publish, post, link to, share, and display publicly the submission on the web or elsewhere. Each Participant will retain all other intellectual property rights in their submissions, as applicable. To participate in the Challenge, each Participant must warrant that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced nonexclusive licenses of the Participant’s rights to the federal government. To receive an award, Participants will not be required to transfer their intellectual property rights to NIH, but Participants must grant to the federal government the nonexclusive licenses recited herein.
9. Each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
10. Each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) participating in this Challenge must comply with all terms and conditions of these rules, and participation in this Challenge constitutes each such Participant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by these rules. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.
11. As a condition for winning a cash prize in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) that has been selected as a winner must complete and submit all requested winner verification and payment documents to NIH within 10 business days of formal notification. Failure to return all required verification documents by the date specified in the notification may be a basis for disqualification of a cash prize winning submission.

Disqualification

Submissions may be disqualified for plagiarism, falsification of any information submitted, use of copyrighted material without permission, and use of profanity, violent images, or nudity. NIMHD is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, or misdirected entries, which will be disqualified.  

Award Approving Official

The Award Approving Official will be Monica Webb Hooper, PhD, (Acting) Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, or as otherwise delegated.

Payment of the Prize

Prizes awarded under this Challenge will be paid by electronic funds transfer and may be subject to federal income taxes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/NIH will comply with the Internal Revenue Service withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable. Entities participating in this Challenge are required to request and obtain a free Unique Entity ID (UEI), if they have not already done so, via SAM.gov as this will expedite prize payment. Additional information can be found at https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration.

NIH/NIMHD reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (a) cancel, suspend, or modify the Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, and/or (b) not award any prizes if no submissions are deemed worthy.

Legal and Participation Terms

Participation in this Challenge does not create a clinician-patient relationship, and content shared on the platform does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, guidance, or instruction regarding any disease or health condition. Participants should consult qualified healthcare professionals regarding personal medical decisions or health conditions.

The views expressed by participants do not necessarily reflect those of the HHS, NIH, NIMHD or the federal government.