Vale launched a challenge in Brazil - in collaboration with Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein and Mater
Dei Health Network - that will provide USD 1 million to expand solutions against COVID-19 including Risk
Monitoring and Prevention, Classification and Diagnosis, Patient Monitoring and Intensive Care. In
addition, there is a “Open Challenge” category which covers other themes.
To ensure greater access for the population, companies, startups, institutions, government, universities,
and professionals that have low or zero-cost solutions that can be deployed to the end-user within 15
(fifteen) days from the approval date are welcome to participate.
We want to accelerate solutions that minimize the impacts of COVID-19 on our society
Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein and Hospital Mater Dei play a leading role in defining
medical-scientific challenges and criteria for the technical evaluation of the proposals received,
in addition to supporting healthcare entrepreneurs and innovators who will gain financial support to
streamline their solutions.
Know the challenges available
Risk Monitoring and Prevention
Classification/Diagnosis
Patient Monitoring
Intensive Care
Open Challenge
Risk Monitoring and Prevention
It is possible to stem the spread of the disease through educational and preventive measures.
This includes identifying areas of risk, educating the population, preventing new
infections, and providing care for the citizens involved in essential services. A strong
approach to education and prevention is one of the most effective ways to contain the spread
of the disease.
We are seeking solutions for the following:
- Enable access to reliable information;
- Use existing data to improve data quality;
- Provide prompt protection to citizens involved in essential services;
- Ensure the supply of protective equipment;
- Provide needy populations access to basic sanitation and hygiene conditions;
- Georeference people infected with coronavirus;
- Identify risk areas;
- Improve isolation areas
Classification/Diagnosis
Adequate classification in healthcare services is required to avoid saturation, unnecessary
crowding, overload of the healthcare team on the front line and, especially, to ensure
safety and adequate care according to the conditions of the patients who arrive.
We are seeking solutions for the following:
- Ensure early diagnosis for everybody;
- Streamline diagnosis;
- Disclose the importance of prognosis beyond diagnosis;
- Enable self-classification – offline if possible;
- Classify infected people in areas of high circulation of people;
- Predict diagnostic confirmation based on symptoms;
- Predict disease exclusion based on symptoms;
- Predict demand for the use of resources according to the evolution of cases;
- Predict severity in patients with COVID-19 (in ambulatories and hospitals).
Patient Monitoring
Given the guidance for domestic isolation, the physical and social isolation demands attention
to people's health and may cause several emotional illnesses. In addition, care for patients
with mild symptoms can be performed at home aiming to provide availability of hospital care
for patients with severe symptoms of the disease.
We are seeking solutions for the following:
- Physical health, mental health, and well-being for:
- People in quarantine;
- People at risk of developing the severe form of the disease (elderly and people
with comorbidities);
- Professionals working in essential services;
- Health care professionals.
- Ensure healthcare for remote regions and countries;
- Enable remote assistance in different aspects of physical health, mental health, and
well-being;
- Remote monitoring of patients in isolation.
Intensive Care
COVID-19 is associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome and requires mechanical
ventilation in some cases. As the virus is expected to spread even further and infect
thousands of people in the coming weeks, there is a growing concern about the availability
of respirators for severe cases. In addition to the respiratory system, the most severe
forms of COVID-19 can also affect the cardiac system and kidneys, among others.
We are seeking solutions for the following:
- Ensure the availability of respirator valves in the market;
- Ensure the availability of essential materials for the care of inpatients
- Develop alternatives to respirators (products and technologies);
- Ensure raw material for the production of essential items;
- Connect respirator suppliers and distributors;
- Georeference medical equipment (respirators, hospital beds, monitors);
- Control of negative pressure of hospital beds;
- Ensure a rapid system to disinfect environments;
- Ensure large-scale disinfection;
- Provide automated comfort systems for patients;
- Develop transport systems for contaminated patients;
- Increase the useful life of equipment.
Open Challenge:
This category accepts proposals from proponents for various solutions, addressing problems in
areas such as: logistics, food, health process improvements, information systems,
connectivity, exponential technologies, employment and income, to minimize the impact of
COVID-19, since that are in the immediate application stage.
Selection Criteria
The solutions submitted must meet the following requirements:
- Adherence to the challenges presented
- Solution maturity and development stage.
- Not expose users to health hazards
- Investment volume compatible with the Bid
- It must be accessible by the general population, that is, free-of-charge or at a low-cost
- Relevant impact on the community
- Scalability potential and readiness
- Entrepreneurial and Technical Capacity of the Team – multidisciplinarity and complementarity
Winning solutions
- Mass Testing (Neoprospecta)
-
Company location: Santa Catarina, Brazil
Neoprospecta submitted a coronavirus mass testing solution that allows several people to be tested
simultaneously. This method is similar to the regular PCR* (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test. The
difference is that it allows 16 people to be tested at once by increasing the sampling rate,
reducing costs, and maintaining accuracy of the results.
With the funding provided by Vale, the company will be able to scale up its testing capacity
from 40,000 to 54,000 people/day. 1,500 tests will be donated to the public sector in the states
of Ceará and Santa Catarina. These tests will cover 24,000 people.
* Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a method widely used in molecular biology to rapidly make
millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small
sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detail.
Click here to access company´s
website
- Face Shield (Compass 3D)
-
Company location: Minas Gerais, Brazil
Compass 3D is using industrial 3D printers to produce face masks to protect health care professionals
against the coronavirus The masks produced have already been approved by the medical staff at Rede
Master Dei de Saúde.
With the funding provided by Vale, the company will be able to scale up its testing capacity
from 2,300 to 9,200 units/day. 10% of the units sold will be donated to the public sector for
two months, benefitting at least 2,000 health care professionals in the city of Belo
Horizonte.
Click here to access company´s
website
- Air and Mask Disinfecting Devices (Biolambda)
-
Company location: São Paulo, Brasil
Biolambda submitted a solution to produce masks and recirculating air disinfectant devices for
hospital use. The solution consists of a container that disinfects masks and air through air
recirculation in a recommended area of up to 150 m². This system uses the UV sterilization method.
With the funding, the company will increase its UVMask (mask disinfecting device) and UVAir
(air disinfecting device) production capacity from 200 to 300 units per day. A total of 25
UVMasks and 10 UVAir will be donated to the public sector over the course of five
weeks.
Click here to access company´s
website
- Production of Face Shields (IFCE)
-
Company location: Ceará, Brazil
The Federal University of Amazonas (Universidade Federal do Amazonas, UFAM) will increase its current
production of face shields by 20 times and alcohol gel by five times.
The 6,500 face shields that will be produced over the next 16 weeks, in addition to
alcohol-based sanitizers, will be fully donated to health care units in cities in the state of
Amazonas.
Click here to access the website
- Production of Face Shields (Delfino)
-
Company location: Minas Gerais, Brazil
Delfino’s solution uses 3D printing to produce face shields. The funding will enable the
company to increase its production capacity from 500 to 800 units/day. A total of 40,000 face
shields will be donated to public hospitals over the course of 16 weeks.
- Production of face shields and acrylic boxes (Faceshield4Life)
-
Company location: Bahia, Brazil
Faceshield4Life is an initiative developed by prototyping laboratories in Bahia. The proposed
solution comprises production of 40,000 face shields and 200 acrylic boxes to be used by health care
professionals over the next six weeks.
With the funding, the company will be able to increase its production of face shields from
200 to 300 units/day and acrylic boxes from 10 to 50 units/day. All items will be donated to
public hospitals.
Click here to access the
website
- Ethanol purification kits (UFRJ)
-
Company location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) proposed the
development of six ethanol purification systems for production of 70% alcohol solutions. The systems
will be donated to six partnering institutions. UFRJ has processed more than 2,000 liters of ethanol
using a simplified version of the proposed system – the content has been analyzed and considered
suitable for use in hospitals. The entire alcohol volume produced from these kits will be
distributed to health centers.
The funding will enable the production and donation of six systems to different institutions, allowing a total production of approximately 150,000 liters of alcohol monthly.
- Production of Face Shields and Alcohol-Based Sanitizers (UFAM)
-
Company location: Manaus, Brazil
The Federal University of Amazonas (Universidade Federal do Amazonas, UFAM) will increase its current
production of face shields by 20 times and alcohol gel by five times. The 6,500 face shields
that will be produced over the next 16 weeks, in addition to alcohol-based sanitizers, will be
fully donated to health care units in cities in the state of Amazonas.
- Online Therapy Platform (OrienteMe)
-
Company location: São Paulo, Brazil
The solution submitted by OrienteMe, a company based in São Paulo, consists of a platform that offers
online therapy services via video call or messaging. The platform is dedicated for health care
professionals and others working on the front lines against the COVID-19 pandemic, who find
themselves in situations of stress and vulnerability.
The funds will be used to hire more psychologists and staff to expand both the assistance
capacity and the infrastructure. This target audience will have access to 33,000 subscriptions
(each subscription includes a 30-minute session) and these licenses will cover the region for
approximately five months.
Click here to access the website
- Sterilizing Boxes (First Team 1305)
-
Location: Ontario, Canada
First Team 1305 is a student robotics team that competes in the FIRST Championship, the world’s
largest celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for students. Their
proposal consists of creating a UV sterilizer box that can be built by health centers (the kit with
the equipment and instructions is bought and assembled in the unit). The use of an open source
(unpatented) technology combined with the concept of "do it yourself" makes the solution accessible.
The funding will enable the production of 50 kits, which will be donated to small and medium
medical clinics in Canada.
Click here to access the website
- Hemodynamic Monitoring (FloSonics)
-
Location: Ontario, Canada
FloSonics Medical is a start-up that develops and supplies wearable sensors that improve the clinical
management of critically ill patients both inside and outside the hospital. The proposal
consists of the production and donation of single-use, wireless and wearable hemodynamic monitors
that provide physicians simple access to information about the cardiovascular status of a patient
diagnosed with COVID-19, transmitted via Bluetooth to an iPad or iPhone.
With the funding provided, the company will be able to scale up the production capacity from
100 to 1,000 devices per week. The monitors will be donated directly to hospitals in Canada and
possibly to Brazil.
Click here to access the website
Phases of the Challenge
03/28/2020
1
Call for challenge
04/05/2020
2
Deadline for registration
04/17/2020
3
Deadline for evaluating solutions
05/08/2020
4
Winners announcement on Vale's website
- SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL
-
Proponents must submit their proposals on the Challenge website. Proposal submissions will be
open from March 28th onwards.
- SELECTION AND DISCLOSURE OF PROPOSALS
-
The proposals will be selected by the bid’s technical evaluation committee, on a continuous flow
according to the criteria set out in this regulation, and announced on the Challenge website on
a weekly basis.
- TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO PROPONENTS
-
The funds approved for each proposal will be transferred to the proponent upon documentary and
legal validation and signature of the cooperation agreement, within 48 hours.
- IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULT FOLLOW-UP
-
Those whose solutions have been approved solutions and have received funds – financial or other
resources –, as described in this regulation, undertake to provide proof of application of funds
and results as intended in the respective cooperation agreement.
Benefits
- Up to US$ 200,000
(at the evaluation committee’s discretion)
- Access to other partners
- Access to Vale’s AIC (Artificial Intelligence Center)
Questions?
Check out the main questions about the challenge
- Is it necessary to have a business entity to submit the challenge proposal?
-
Yes. Only registered companies with a valid business entity number are allowed to submit their
proposals. Private and public companies that comply with item 2.2 of this call out are welcome
to apply. Individuals, associated or not with other organizations, other associations that don’t
have a valid business entity number won’t be considered in this call.
- Is it possible to submit more than one project with the same business entity number?
-
Yes. If the applicant submits more than one project, they need to bring different
projects/initiatives. If one or more projects are selected in this call, it will not be allowed
to transfer funds from one project to another. If the applicant submits the same project more
than once, all projects will be disqualified. Projects from different business entities that are
considerably similar and with identical submissions will be disqualified.
- My project fits multiple challenges in this program, and I can’t select multiple options. What
should I do?
-
Select one of the challenges that you believe your project fits the most. You can add in the
observation field of the application all the other challenges that you think your project might
fit.
- Is it possible to change the submission form after submission?
-
No, it is not. It is not recommended to submit another form with the exact same solution, as
duplications and very similar – almost identical – submissions will be disqualified.
- Is my project / solution adequate for the challenge?
-
The team will not pre-evaluate your submission by any means. We recommend that you submit your
project and let the committees, partners and its representatives evaluate it during the process
of the program. Each submitted project will be evaluated. Vale and its partners will not be
giving feedback to the applicants.
- Is there a limit of length on the submission form?
-
No, there is no limit of characters. Please be as clear, direct and complete as possible, in
order to help us evaluate you.
- How mature does my solution / project need to be?
-
It is a requirement that the solution be able to be implemented up to 15 days after signing the
contract with Vale. If the project requires any governmental certification or any other
authorization to be deployed, its approval could be impacted.
- Are there any restrictions on how to use the money?
-
Yes. It is required that the money be spent on the development of the submitted solution. It is
forbidden to fund any kind of administrative expenditures with the amount donated by Vale. The
evaluating committee will require details on how the money will be spent in order to deliberate
the amount that will be made available to the finalist solutions. The submitted project will be
audited and the company that submitted it will need to store and share the related expenses
records with Vale. If any expense is not evidenced, the corresponding amount should be returned
to Vale.
- Can I submit my project on April 5th?
-
Yes. You’re allowed to submit your project up to 11:59pm of the deadline date.
- Does Vale require exclusivity?
-
No. There are no Exclusivity or Intellectual Property agreements in this program. Any previous or
subsequent IP owned by the project submitter will remain the property of the project submitter.
Vale requires only that the submitting company prove its impact and development, as agreed on
items 1.4, 7.5a and 7.5c of the program.
Do you have any questions about the process, challenge objectives or whether your solution
fits the required profile?
Send an e-mail to info@valecovid19challenge.com.
Click
here to learn
more about all Vale's initiatives regarding Coronavirus
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