Brain Innovation Days Pitch Competition
Do you have a start-up or business plan set up for the next great brain innovation and are up for some competition? Then the Brain Innovation Days Pitch Competition, made in collaboration with MindSpark 360, a pioneering platform dedicated to enhancing mental health, is the opportunity for you! Pitch your business to join the running for a Jury and/or Public Prize.
In 2021, the first Brain Innovation Days Pitch Competition was held online, amassing more than 1000 audience votes. In 2022 and 2023, the Pitch Competition went live in person, with 5 outstanding finalists pitching on stage in Brussels.
We want to provide the opportunity to showcase great examples of brain innovation in Europe that can create positive impact — innovations and solutions that will improve the quality of life of people with brain disorders (neurological and mental alike) and support clinicians, researchers, patients & caregivers, industry, and society as a whole.
- Finalists are expected to attend the BIDays in person and present their pitch on stage.
- Only one pitch can be submitted per company.
- All Finalists will receive waived tickets to attend the Brain Innovation Days. Already bought one to avail of the Early Bird? No problem, if you make it to the Final, we’ll reimburse you – or invite you to pass your ticket on to a colleague!
The application process consists of 2 rounds and applications must be submitted online via Oxford Abstracts.
- Round 1: Open submissions for eligible start-ups (see below). Answer a few questions, provide a bit of background material and off you go.
- Round 2 (Live Finals): The Live Pitch Finale! This is where the magic happens. The 5 finalists chosen by our experts will compete LIVE at the Brain Innovation Days. Once all finalists have pitched, our panel of judges will choose a first winner. The public will choose the 2nd winner for the public prize.
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- The startup must be less than 7 years old; it can still be early stage, however, you must already have a company name and business plan.
- The startups needs to be focused on solutions/innovations supporting the brain innovation community (researchers, clinicians, industry, patients, society) to improve the quality of life of people with brain disorders (neurological and mental alike) and with a strong societal impact.
- Startups with a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion are strongly invited to apply.
All information must be submitted and presented in clear English with accurate grammar and spelling.
After you start submitting your application, you can re-enter the submission link at any time to view and edit your information until you submit. Once submitted, you will receive a confirmation email containing the title of your pitch. If you do not receive this confirmation e-mail or have any other questions related to the pitch competition submission, please contact the BIDays team at info@braininnovationdays.eu.
Jury members are public and private investors and representatives from the European Brain Council membership including neuroscientists, neurologists, psychiatrists and people living with brain disorders. They will review the excellence of your submission and ask questions during live pitch competition.
- Expert & Investor Mentorship and Workshops: Gain access to comprehensive investor workshops and personalized mentoring by our partner MindSpark360.
- Prominent Event Exposure: Showcase your innovation to a diverse audience at Brain Innovation Days 2024, including researchers, clinicians, policymakers, industry leaders, startups, and people living with brain disorders.
- In-Depth Jury Feedback: Receive a 1-hour dedicated feedback session with one or more jury members, offering expert insights.
- Exclusive Networking Opportunities: Participate in five 1-hour introductory meetings with potential partners and field experts, ranging from neuroscientists and clinical specialists in neurology and psychiatry to individuals with lived experience.
- Exclusive Video Interview: Gain more visibility by taking part in a short video interview, featuring the pitch competition winner, recorded during the Brain Innovation Days and released after the event.
- Your Own Podcast Episode: Enjoy a non-promotional episode dedicated to the topic of your startup, increasing your visibility and reach.
- Extended Visibility: Benefit from a full year of visibility on the European Brain Council, Brain Innovation Days, and MindSpark360 communication channels, including website features and social media promotion.
- Event Participation Perks: Receive a complimentary ticket and a free exhibition booth at the BIDays 2025 edition.
- First round of applications closed on 15 September 2024.
- The finalists will be announced after summer.
On the 14 November, the 5 finalists will pitch their idea LIVE on stage.
Didn’t make it into the final round but want to showcase your work at the Brain Innovation Days anyway? We also have Poster Presentation and Innovation Showcase slots — more info available here.
2024 Pitch Competition Review Committee
2023 Pitch Competition Highlights
2023 Pitch Competition Jury Prize Winner
After winning the 2023 Pitch Competition Jury Prize, Erich Reiter from Say It Labs explained why attending the Brain Innovation Days was important for his company!
2024 Finalists
Pitch Competition Finalist #1 - QV Bioelectronis
QV Bioelectronics
QV Bioelectronics is a pioneering medical device company developing the world’s first implantable Electric Field Therapy (EFT) device to treat brain tumours. Our product, GRACE, is implanted during existing tumour resection surgery and provides continuous treatment that aims to inhibit tumour growth without affecting the healthy brain tissue. Its initial indication is for glioblastoma, with future plans to expand into paediatric cancers such as DIPG and the $30 billion market of brain metastases.
QV Bioelectronics has demonstrated breakthrough in vivo safety and in vitro efficacy data, backed by a board of clinical advisors featuring world-leading KOLs in neurosurgery. The company holds several granted US patents, has raised $4 million in equity funding, and won over $3 million in grant funding. With GRACE, QV Bioelectronics aims to significantly improve patient outcomes and maintain a high quality of life through continuous therapy and patient-friendly design.
Pitch Competition Finalist #2 - BrainTale
BrainTale
Since day one, BrainTale has been partnering with top academic centers, tier-one researchers, and leading biopharma companies to improve brain care by implementing precision neurology. The company measures the brain through white matter quantification and standardization with a commercially available software medical device solution.
With a collaborative approach, we enable drug developers, leading academic researchers, and key opinion leaders to improve patient care by understanding neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions, assess brain lesions evolutions and make appropriate decisions in the clinic and during drug development.
In practice, BrainTale’s software solution offers quality controlled, non-invasive, reliable and clinically validated reports after diffusion tensor MRI data processing. It is available with any MRI scanner, everywhere. With its regulatory-cleared AI solution, BrainTale empowers the scientific and medical community with objective measure to transform brain care.
Because brain diseases have become the medical issue of our time, we can no longer wait. At BrainTale, we strongly believe that by exploring better, we can treat faster, together.
Pitch Competition Finalist #3 - CREATe Therapeutics
CREATe Therapeutics
CREATe Therapeutics, a VRG Therapeutics company, is pioneering a new class of CNS therapies through its proprietary modular platform. This chemogenetics-based technology can precisely target any neuronal population based on its location and neurochemical profile, offering a safe and exceptionally effective treatment for a wide range of CNS disorders.
- Unique screening method is established and validated for the generation of various designer receptors
- In vivo animal model for technological proof of concept is set up for the evaluation of new receptors
- First proprietary receptors identified – further receptor libraries are designed and being tested for optimization
Management/Senior Advisory Team with 15+ years of pharma/biotech R&D experience including CNS research and chemogenetics
- In vivo technological proof of concept is expected to be reached by 2025 Q1
Tamás Kitka
CREATe Therapeutics
Pitch Competition Finalist #4 - Paperbox Health
Paperbox Health
Paperbox Health is an innovative health-tech company revolutionizing the early detection and management of learning disorders through gamified digital solutions. Our flagship product, DINO by Paperbox, streamlines clinical workflows by automating documentation and providing data-driven insights, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on patient care. By leveraging advanced AI technologies, Paperbox Health enhances efficiency, reduces administrative burden, and improves outcomes in pediatric care, all while creating an engaging and stress-free experience for children. Our mission is to make healthcare more accessible, efficient, and effective for both providers and patients, expanding horizontally to the cognitive issue field
Pitch Competition Finalist #5 - RebrAIn
RebrAIn
RebrAIn offers a precise targeting technology for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). This is achieved through an algorithm based on Artificial Intelligence and a collaborative health data registry. With this innovative technology, developed to effectively identify the areas of the brain to be treated, ReBrain simplifies and standardizes DBS by reducing the risks and making it less traumatic, thus allowing more patients worldwide to be treated.
Nejib Zemzemi