Have a cracker-jack, game-changing idea, but no investors and no clue what to do next? Consider entering the Technology Innovation in Plastic Surgery (TIPS) Challenge.
The Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF) is helping to foster technological innovations and inventions in cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery through the TIPS Challenge.
The top two applicants who have the best technological inventions will be announced at The PSF’s Technology TIPS meeting slated for May 31-June 2, 2013, in San Francisco. Each will receive a $5,000 award and mentorship from an expert panel of judges.
“The TIPS Innovation Challenge is designed to encourage healthcare professionals, engineers, and entrepreneurs to come forward with impactful, next-generation technology and concepts that address unmet patient needs,” says Temple, Texas-based plastic surgeon Charles Verheyden, MD, president of The PSF, in a news release. “This will be a unique opportunity for us to connect with those who have great innovative ideas, who may or may not have full access to the plastic surgery community, and assist them by providing funding and feedback so that they may see their inventions come to fruition – inventions that may ultimately advance the science of plastic surgery.”
Tips on TIPS
The TIPS Innovation Challenge is open to plastic surgeons, physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Applicants must submit a two-page executive summary of their business plan describing their plastic surgery-related innovation/invention to The PSF no later than 5:00 PM EST on March 27, 2013.
Five business plans will be selected by a preliminary review committee, and presented to a panel of “shark tank” judges during a closed-door session in San Francisco on May 30, 2013. The five applicants selected to present will be notified by May 1, 2013. The top two winning business plans will be selected during the closed-door session.
For more information on contest rules and executive summary requirements, visit the PSF website.
