Praxis Incubate Program - Praxis Spinal Cord Institute

Praxis SCI Incubate Program

A six month program geared towards pre-prototype projects with an innovation to transform the lives of people living with SCI. The program provides targeted consumer and research validation and mentorship, as well as access to our commercialization network.

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| Praxis Incubate Program

Program Description

Praxis Spinal Cord Institute is proud to launch the first SCI Incubate Program, a funded six-month program for earlier stage innovation projects with solutions that address care- and cure-related treatments and overall quality of life for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

The virtual program, based in Vancouver, Canada, is designed for pre-prototype ventures to scale their innovations rapidly. SCI Incubate builds targeted support into the design and prototyping process through weekly mentorship from our in-house consumer, research and commercialization experts. Through the six-month program, running November to the end of March 2021, our world-class team will work closely with you to scale your technology to the next level. Praxis contributes $25K in targeted funding to help assist you with key objectives set during the program.

SCI Incubate provides access to Praxis’ global network of SCI research, donor and investment organizations to help build your international market strategy across developing and developed markets.

The Praxis Spinal Cord Institute’s SCI Incubate program is made possible through support from the Government of Canada through Western Economic Diversification.

→ Download the Program one-pager (pdf)

Program Highlights

Program runs from November 2, 2020 – March 31, 2021 (6 months)
Requires 1 day/week mandatory commitment
Virtual program, based in Vancouver, BC
$25K per research project in grant funding
Cohort of maximum five research projects accepted for our pilot cohort in 2020
Early stage ventures with a clear medical application to SCI care- or cure-related treatments required

Key Dates

Application open: September 2, 2020
Deadline to apply: October 1, 2020
Interviews: October 12-19, 2020
Notice of decision: October 30, 2020 (or earlier)
Program begins: November 5, 2020
Program ends: March 31, 2021

What We Look For

Our criteria for accepting ventures for this program includes:

Demonstrated application to impact SCI outcomes (including SCI cure and quality of life for people with SCI) with focus on addressing: neuropathic pain, neuro restoration, bladder and bowel complications, pressure injuries
Pre-prototype, preferred TRL 2-4
1 minimum full-time founder/research lead preferred (part time staffing considered)
Team lead(s) availability to participate 100% in bimonthly sessions, tasks, info sessions and activities (overall, under 5 hours/week)

Submission Requirements

Presentation/pitch of product (5-10 slide overview of product and progress to date)
Video describing the product (2 min+), informal video of founder describing product is sufficient
Business Plan (5-10 page) submitted, including the following:
- Intended impact on people with SCI (number of people with SCI served, type of impact, significance of impact)
- Overall market of product
- Description of product/service
- Competitor analysis (what is unique about the product)
- Brief description on financials/funding to date and plans to raise future funding
- Next steps for project, including funding, product development and research goals
- Company team (full-time and part-time members, advisors)

Click here to start your application

Application Process

All applications will need to be submitted via the SurveyMonkey link. All files (business plans and pitches) will need to be under 15MB and uploaded on the site. Video links (with secure YouTube links) should be provided. Should you have any concerns regarding the receipt of your application, please email SCI_Incubate@praxisinstitute.org. Should you have any issues uploading the correct files, you may attach your files and send directly to SCI_Incubate@praxisinstitute.org, as long as the files follow the size limits and are not provided as links (except for the video).

Application review and selection process:

Applications will be reviewed by an expert panel, which includes: an individual with lived experience of SCI, the Praxis Research team, and seasoned healthcare commercialization mentors.

Shortlisted applicants will take part in a one-hour interview with our panel of experts. Semi-finalist applicants will then move on a 2^nd round of interviews.

The five selected finalists will be informed by October 30, 2020.

Application Disclosure

If you apply to the Praxis SCI Incubate Program, we will collect personal information about you, information relating to your venture, and why you are applying for the program. We use this information for the purposes of processing and responding to your application, including assessing the suitability of your venture for acceptance into the program. If you provide us with personal information about any other individual (such as your co-founder(s) or partner(s)), you confirm that you have obtained the consent of such individual(s) prior to providing any personal information to us.

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the personal information we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your privacy rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at araina@praxisinstitute.org.

For general questions pertaining to the Praxis SCI Incubate Program, please email SCI_Incubate@praxisinstitute.org.

The Praxis Spinal Cord Institute’s SCI Incubate program is made possible through support from

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