Well-known technology contest organizer XPRIZE named five winning teams in its $6 million Rapid COVID Testing competition on Tuesday and three of them are from San Diego County.
ChromaCode and Reliable-LFC, both of Carlsbad, joined the La Jolla Institute for Immunology as local winners in the challenge, which aimed to spark development of “radically affordable,” accurate COVID testing platforms with turnaround times of no more than 12 hours from sample to result.
Each winner is guaranteed $500,000. They will receive an additional $500,000 over the next few months if they hit milestones for mass-producing their COVID-19 tests.
Moreover, a $50 million venture capital fund called the COVID Apollo Project has pledged to work with XPRIZE Foundation and others to bring testing innovations to market. The fund includes seasoned life sciences investors such as RA Capital and Bain Capital.
Mar 16, 2021 12:22pm XPrize previously launched competitions for the use of artificial intelligence models against the pandemic as well as a million-dollar challenge to design a next-generation face mask. (Getty Images/Naeblys)
Nine teams have been selected as the winners of XPrize’s $6 million COVID-19 testing competition, with the goal of providing affordable and accurate diagnostics to help ensure the safety of everyday activities.
Five grand prize winners brought forward unique antigen- and RNA-based tests that aim to meet the public’s high demand for diagnostics while also helping prevent future supply chain issues.
A separate “open innovation track” selected four participants that employed screening technologies outside of typical tests such as a panel to detect changes in a person’s sense of smell and breath analysis machines to detect viral infections.