The finalists have been announced and Biomeme is moving forward to the next round of XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing, a $6 million dollar 6-month competition to create increased and more accessible COVID-19 testing methods at scale. Until vaccines are able to be distributed globally, improved and affordable testing capabilities are vital to protect the most vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
Finalist teams were selected out of a pool of 219 semifinalists following judging of a detailed questionnaire pertaining to each team’s qualifications and blinded proficiency testing. Results were compared by an independent judging panel across a set of performance categories, including specificity, sensitivity, and cross-reactivity.
The XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing finalist teams will now have two weeks to send their testing kits and protocols to laboratories for clinical validation. In collaboration with OpenCovidScreen, a non-profit founded by scientists and business leaders to drive needed innovation through “Open Science,” the XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing competition will conclude in February 2021. The top five teams will receive $500,000 and advance to the next phase where they will be matched to deployment sites to prepare and administer tests. Each team that successfully completes the deployment phase will be rewarded an additional $500,000.
Biomeme is committed to making COVID-19 testing easily available, especially to those most at-risk. We are proud to be among the list of 20 exceptional finalists.
More information to come soon.
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the$20 Million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $10 Million Rainforest XPRIZE, the $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE, the $5 Million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling, XPRIZE NextGen Mask Challenge and $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing. For more information, visit xprize.org.
