Sprint for Women’s Health

ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health Awardees Address Critical Unmet Challenges

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has announced the awardees of the Sprint for Women’s Health, awarding $110 million to address critical unmet challenges in women’s health. Read the ARPA-H press release and visit the ARPA-H website for details about the awardees.

The Sprint is conducted in collaboration with the ARPA-H Investor Catalyst Hub of ARPANET-H, the agency’s nationwide health innovation network that connects people, innovators, and institutions to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone. Awardees (performers) will work directly with an ARPA-H Program Manager (PM) and the Investor Catalyst Hub to develop their proposed solution.

Awards span six topic areas across two funding tracks: one for early-stage research, or “spark” solutions, and the other for later-stage development, or “launchpad” solutions. Both tracks have a 24-month period of performance. Launchpad performers will also work with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) for help and guidance on commercialization and technology transition.

The Investor Catalyst Hub will issue milestone-based payments aligned with each performer’s research activities and performance objectives.

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Lowering the Barrier 

With the two funding opportunity tracks, ARPA-H lowered barriers of entry for a diverse range of participants, with a simplified submission process of a solution summary followed by a pitch session. A solution summary is a three-page document that addresses how the proposed idea is relevant to ARPA-H mission and the proposed women’s health topic areas. The spark and launchpad tracks were available for all six women’s health topics.

Evaluation criteria included: topic relevance; technical merit, measured by how the proposed solution addressed the ARPA-H Heilmeier Questions (HQs); the potential for significant impact beyond basic research; and an achievable path to deliver innovation to underserved populations.

A doctor smiling at a patient

Future Opportunities

With more than 1,700 submissions, the Sprint for Women’s Health received many more exciting and viable solutions than could be funded through this opportunity. Potential solutions not selected for award were advanced to the Sprint for Women’s Health solution library, a confidential repository of submissions accessible only to the federal government for consideration for future funding opportunities. Government agencies can request access to explore this diverse portfolio of proposals that have been vetted for relevance to women’s health, alignment with health topics, and technical merit.

While the Sprint for Women’s Health submissions are closed, additional opportunities to engage with ARPA-H include:

For Reference

Request for Solutions (Amended April 10)
RFS FAQ: Sprint for Women’s Health 
Full Description of Topics (Included in RFS)
Evaluation Method and Criteria (Included in RFS – Amended April 1)
Submission Instructions (Included in RFS – Amended April 1)
ARPA-H Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs)
Human Subjects and Animal Subjects Research
Solution Summary Submission Template (PDF – Amended April 1)
Solution Summary Submission Template (.docx – Amended April 1)
BIDS Platform Guide
FAQ: Pitch Notifications