COVID DETECTION SPRINT

Twenty-seven (27) institutions responded to this Sprint call for innovations, including a range of non-traditional corporations, universities, government labs and other international solution providers. The innovations submitted in response to this largely focused on systems with direct collection capabilities and the separation of particles coupled with rapid target identification including detection of antigen, antibody, nucleic acid, or whole virus. Entries for this COVID-19 Detection Sprint were overwhelmingly prototype stage solutions, with options that addressed the entire pathway from collection to detection.

Highlights from the COVID-19 Detection Sprint response pool include:

• Promising technologies for monitoring both airborne and wastewater samples.
• Nine (9) innovations that explicitly included performance data on SARS-CoV-2 indicating an advanced level of testing and application.
• Many novel approaches to detection including spectroscopic (Raman/ fluorescence) based methods, liquid crystals, magnetic particles, and microcantilevers.
• A wide range of potential development and funding trajectories, which include dual-use potential for both government and industry technology applications.