Diverse teams of students from across Duke University will pass through a number of rounds of evaluation.

Phase 1: Need Finding

Over the summer, students participating in the Duke-EWH Summer Institute interview hospital personnel and patients, on the ground, in Latin America and East Africa, to assess their technical needs. Each year, students return from the developing world with hundreds of identified healthcare technology needs.

Phase 2: Need Selection and Exploration

In the fall, students select from among the identified needs projects that are likely to have the greatest impact on quality of life. Club participants attend a weekly workshop covering topics such as boostrapping, market evaluation and non-profit tax considerations.

Phase 3: Business Development and Pre-Launch

Selected teams begin to develop their nonprofit businesses. Team leaders from the club work with undergraduate engineering students to prototype and test the design innovation. Team leaders work with selected customers to field test early prototypes.

Final Competition

In the late spring, at a ceremony open to the public, teams compete for thousands of dollars in prize money. Teams present a final business plan, their working prototypes, and an oral presentation to a panel of distinguished judges.

Incubation

Some teams may be offered the opportunity to further develop their business or their technology at Duke University. For example, a limited number of prototypes may be deployed to study the impact, safety, and efficacy of the product on the ground in a developing world setting. The founder can use this time to develop a spin-out plan designed to achieve financial sustainability, scale, and significant social impact.