Background:

NIIMBL is planning a special session at the 2025 National Meeting. The meeting is scheduled to be held in Washington DC from June 24-27, 2025. The special session will be a pitch session (i.e. “Shark Tank”-style) where three organizations will be invited to pitch their promising technology in front of a panel of experts. Each of the three organizations will be given 30 minutes total time consisting of a short introductory statement followed by panel question and answer. At the end of the session, a process will be used to select a winning pitch. Because only three organizations will be given an opportunity to present, this RFI is being used to help identify interested parties. The primary intended and expected type of organization would be small companies (e.g. Tier 3 industry members) with promising biopharmaceutical manufacturing-related technology. However, an academic member planning to pursue commercialization of a new technology or a large company with a promising new technology are welcome to submit information but may not be prioritized over small businesses. 

Purpose of this RFI: 

• Gather information from interested parties who may be interested in participating in a pitch session. Note: This RFI does not constitute a solicitation for funding proposals. NIIMBL anticipates that a small prize will be awarded to the winning pitch, but the prize will not involve research, development, demonstration or other dilutive or non-dilutive funding. 

Submission Details:

Please submit a Word file (A and B) and a Video file (C) that has the following information: 

A. Technology: A brief description (limit 1000 words maximum) of the following: 

• What problem are you trying to solve and why is it important? 
• What is your technical solution and how does it compare to other solutions (if any exist)? 
• What evidence do you have that your technical solution works? 
• What evidence do you have that there is a market for your technology and what is that market? 

B. Organization: Briefly describe the person who will do the pitch and their background and experience. Briefly describe the company/organization in terms of the size and age of the organization, mission, success or failure of the management team to bring any other products to market, and how the technology fits into the organization’s product offerings. If an academic is making the submission, the expectation is that a start-up company would pursue the technology and that should be stated as such. This section is limited to 350 words maximum. 

C. Video: A ≤60 second video pitch, given by the person who will give the presentation at the National Meeting. There is no required structure for how the ≤60 seconds are used except that the person making the pitch must be on screen and speaking for at least 30 seconds. Videos can be submitted in any standard format. There is not an expectation that videos will be ‘produced’ – a self-recording of a Zoom call with PowerPoint would be perfectly acceptable. 

Please click here for more details on this RFI.