Frequently Asked Questions

The Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize is funded by Wellcome and is being delivered by Challenge Works.

The prize aims to improve outcomes for people affected by snakebite by incentivising innovations that create stronger community responses and faster, equitable access to quality medical care.

Specific goals include:

1. Advance ideas with the potential to make near-term transformative impacts on the snakebite patient journey in high-burden countries.

2. Develop a more mature and diverse snakebite innovation landscape by supporting new multi-sector, multi-disciplinary, and international teams of innovators to tackle challenges in creative ways.

3. Raise the profile of snakebite as a global health issue and showcase the potential of innovation to address its unique challenges.

Snakebite envenoming is a neglected public health crisis causing over 100,000 deaths and 400,000 disabilities annually.

Wellcome has primarily focused on transforming the way in which snakebite treatments are researched, developed and delivered - improving the current landscape while strengthening the pipeline for new treatments. Further work is needed to integrate solutions into health systems, while also addressing the broader challenges experienced across the snakebite patient journey.

Snakebite is a neglected health issue with limited funding and a small research community. This prize is a first of its kind opportunity for collaboration and innovation - between those already working in the snakebite field and those who are new to it - to help accelerate solutions for those affected by snakebite.

Challenge prizes support open innovation for established innovators and those who are new to the field, enabling the most promising ideas to progress with funding and expert capacity-building support.

Crucially, their value goes far beyond the final prize awards. Unlike traditional grants, the prize is designed to ensure that participation is a collaborative and supportive process for all teams involved, regardless of the final outcome. Beyond the financial incentives, the prize serves as a powerful accelerator by granting cohorts widespread visibility, validating their approaches, and building the institutional credibility needed to propel innovations forward.

The prize therefore aims to develop a more mature and diverse snakebite innovation landscape by supporting new multi-sector, multi-disciplinary, and international teams of innovators to tackle challenges in creative ways.

Beyond the financial incentives, the prize serves as a powerful accelerator by granting cohorts widespread visibility, validating their approaches, and building the credibility needed to propel innovations forward. Through the competitive process, innovators develop skills and build capacity, which helps to break down barriers to participation and supports innovators’ long-term success. Additionally, the attention generated can create a wider systemic impact by raising awareness of the neglected problem. With the World Health Organization’s target to reduce snakebite mortality and disability by 50% by 2030, the clock is ticking. The prize is looking to advance ideas with the potential to make near-term transformative impacts on the snakebite patient journey in high-burden countries by 2030.

While snakebite presents unique clinical challenges, many of the barriers to care are cross-cutting—systemic hurdles in logistics, communication, and infrastructure that are shared across global health. Because of historically low funding and the neglected nature of this field, there is a great opportunity for new collaborations, fresh perspectives, and new solutions.

The prize incentivises the participation of snakebite specialists, people with lived and frontline experience, and experts from numerous adjacent sectors. By bridging the gap between specialised knowledge and novel approaches with proven solutions from other fields, the prize aims to solve snakebite’s most intricate challenges. Ultimately, the initiative hopes to develop a more mature and diverse snakebite innovation landscape by supporting new multi-sector, multi-disciplinary, and international teams to tackle challenges in creative ways, while raising the profile of snakebite as a global health issue and showcasing the potential of innovation.

The prize requires that solutions are centred on and informed by the end users, including patients, affected communities, first responders, traditional healers, and frontline health workers. Solutions must be culturally resonant and include a credible plan for long-term sustainability, such as securing formal buy-in from local public health authorities.

This is reinforced by Judging Criterion 4 "Understanding of the end user", which evaluates how deeply user needs and local constraints are incorporated into the design through co-design processes, community-led approaches, or local partnerships.

Entrants are encouraged to use our match-making platform to build teams across multiple disciplines and build partnerships with people with lived experience of snakebite.

Finalists will be supported through networking and match-making opportunities throughout the finalist development phase to ensure the solutions are designed to be relevant, appropriate, and adopted in high-burden settings.

Eligible solutions must be tailored for and implemented in communities where the snakebite burden is felt the most and the unmet need is greatest. These are settings in low and middle-income countries with high snakebite mortality and morbidity rates. Geographically, these high-burden regions are predominantly located across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia, and Latin America.

If you have an area that you are looking to focus your solution on that isn't included in the map, email us to explain why you think it should be eligible and considered a high burden setting.

We welcome entries from a range of stakeholders, including those outside of the traditional research and innovation ecosystem, and encourage those with first-hand experience of snakebite to engage with the prize.

Please read the eligibility criteria in the innovator handbook which explains who can enter the prize.

Entries that are not eligible will not be considered for the prize.

Multi-sector, multi-disciplinary, and international teams from all fields. This includes both snakebite experts and problem-solvers from other sectors who can apply their expertise to snakebite.

The programme facilitates multidisciplinary partnerships, connecting innovators with lived-experience partners and organisations to co-design sustainable solutions.

Find other interested innovators to collaborate with by signing up for our match-making portal and signing up to an upcoming event.

The prize is looking for multi-disciplinary teams. Individuals are not eligible for the prize.

Entries can come from any type of legally incorporated organisation (e.g. companies, non-profits, charities, research organisations, universities, civil society groups). The lead organisation must nominate a lead entrant, who must be at least 18 years of age. Teams can also enter under a host organisation.

Teams may enter as a consortium of any combination of the above, but must nominate one organisation as the lead. The lead organisation will enter into a contract and receive funding from the prize.

While the prize is designed to support and enrich the work of snakebite experts, we actively seek diverse problem-solvers - experts from other sectors who can bring fresh perspectives to an underserved field. Both groups will receive a centralised package of innovator support tailored to their needs.

The prize is looking for teams that bring together diverse perspectives to solve the complexities of snakebite challenges to save lives.

Find other interested innovators to collaborate with by signing up to our match-making portal and signing up to an upcoming event.

Yes. We encourage you to use the matchmaking platform provided on our website to find collaborators with complementary skills (e.g., matching a tech developer with a snakebite clinician).

Teams should focus on building multi-disciplinary teams with the operational capacity to deliver real-world impact.

Launch track teams are expected to:

• Share evidence of the development of their prototype and feedback gained from end users by November 2027.

• Share evidence of testing in a near-real-world environment by November 2030.

Growth track teams are expected to:

• Share evidence of their solution being tested in real-world pilots by November 2027.

• Share evidence of how the solution is being implemented in the field and how impact is being assessed by November 2030.

To score highly against the ‘Team capability & project delivery’ criterion, entrants should ensure that their teams have the expertise, partnerships, and operational capacity to deliver on their proposed solution and meet these expectations.

To support connections, the prize offers a dedicated matchmaking platform on its website to help innovators connect with potential partners, share resources, and bridge skillset gaps.

Yes, you can update your team composition throughout the prize. However, the lead entrant and lead organisation must remain the same unless a formal request is approved.

The prize is calling for solutions to tackle critical challenges and improve outcomes for people affected by snakebite in high-burden settings—by strengthening community responses, accelerating access to appropriate care, or improving the delivery of treatment.

The prize supports technological, social, logistical, and systems-level innovations designed to improve patient outcomes.

We’re calling for solutions (innovations) that improve outcomes for people affected by snakebite, through stronger community responses and faster, equitable access to quality medical care.

Solutions may focus on first aid, access & logistics, assessment & diagnosis, emergency care or supportive care.

Out-of-scope areas: Development of drugs, antivenoms, or venom neutralisation therapies is strictly ineligible.

Additionally, solutions cannot focus solely on primary prevention, basic research, or long-term recovery/rehab.

All entries must pass a Safety & Ethics check. You must demonstrate a clear commitment to "doing no harm" and show a responsible approach to engaging with end users and affected communities

In-scope solutions include but are not restricted to:

• Diagnostics: Rapid bedside point-of-care tools to detect venom or distinguish envenoming (e.g., lateral flow or blood clotting tests).

• Supportive Care: Interventions addressing acute tissue damage (wound dressings, debridement tools) or hardware/systems for airway and respiratory support in neurotoxic envenoming.

• Supply Chain/Logistics: Predictive analytics software to forecast hotspots based on snake migration data, drone delivery networks, and cold-chain mini chillers.

• Clinical Decision-Making: Digital treatment protocols and smartphone workflow apps for facility staff, or telemedicine networks connecting rural clinicians with expert toxinologists

What is important is that you understand the funding and timeline of the prize - if your solution requires clinical trials and a lot of regulatory boundaries and funding, it is likely not a good fit for the prize.

If you are still not sure whether your solution is eligible, email us, and we can review whether your entry would be eligible.

Out-of-scope areas: Development of drugs, antivenoms, or venom neutralisation therapies is strictly ineligible.

While important work is being done to improve existing antivenoms and develop new treatments, there is a real need for technological, social and system-level solutions to maximise the reach of these treatments and ultimately improve health outcomes. In order to address the complexity of snakebite, we must holistically consider and address the surrounding challenges of the patient journey, as the administration of antivenom is only one of the critical steps in the journey.

Previous funding efforts have focused on supporting the development of traditional and recombinant antivenoms, but this prize shifts focus to improving other barriers to care access that people affected by snakebite encounter. New pharmacological interventions have longer development periods and require significantly different levels of support (financial and non-financial) than this prize is offering.

High-burden regions include Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia, and Latin America. The prize specifically aims to target rural, poor, and agrarian communities within regions affected by snakebite.

Entrants must justify their chosen level of reach—whether hyperlocal, national, regional, or global—and explain how that selection maximises impact.

Their end user should be based in an area affected by snakebite. See our map on this page to understand which countries solutions should be targeting.

Yes, the existing snakebite solutions are most likely eligible for the growth track. The Growth track is specifically designed for existing solutions that already support snakebite patients, or are being repurposed from neighbouring fields, and plan to extend their reach, increase impact, or add new components.

The entry form for the growth track will ask you to provide evidence of the work you have already done to develop your solution, as well as your planned next steps to develop the solution during the prize. Growth entrants' response to both of these areas will be used to assess the solution against the judging criteria. Note that we encourage existing solutions to incorporate innovative components for the prize. By ‘innovative’ we mean any type of solution that leverages new ideas, methods, or tools that will add value, improve process, or create efficiencies.

Solutions that need to be adapted significantly for the snakebite context are likely eligible for the launch track. Solutions can be adapted from adjacent fields, such as adapting clinical tools from fields like emergency medicine or wound care, or repurposing non-patient tools, including AI photo-based apps, to identify the snake species and inform care management.

Innovation is defined as an original approach that advances the field through novel, combined, or adapted interventions, such as new processes, technologies, services, or tools.

Snakebite envenoming is a complex challenge, demanding cross-disciplinary responses. Innovators from all fields are needed to design impactful solutions to bridge the gap and develop technological, social, logistical, and systems-level innovations.

Track selection depends on your solution's innovation maturity level.

The Launch Track is designed to support teams to transform ideas into proofs-of-concept and then into viable solutions. Whether your team is developing a brand new idea or significantly adapting an existing solution for snakebite care, this track will support you to take an initial design through to feasibility testing.

Enter the Launch Track if your solution is at Innovation Maturity Level (IML) 1-2 (concept/feasibility stage).

The Growth Track is designed to support tested solutions to be fully validated, implemented, evolved or extend their reach, and fundamentally improve outcomes for snakebite patients.

Enter the Growth Track if your solution is at IML 3+ (tested solutions ready for validation or expansion).

These are levels used to define a solution's development stage:

• Level 1: Initial research and understanding the problem.

• Level 2: Concept and feasibility testing.

• Level 3: Development and verification through prototypes.

• Level 4: Validation and pilot testing.

• Level 5: Deployment and impact assessment.

• Level 6: Expansion of reach.

The prize runs for four and a half years.

It opens for entries on 17 June 2026 and closes on 16 September 2026.

The finalist development period runs from January to October 2027, followed by a winner development period from December 2027 to December 2030.

The prize funding is designed to help teams advance by providing financial injections during the finalist and winner development phases.

Any funds awarded must be used in relation to the awarded solution to improve snakebite patient outcomes.

This could include the following activities:

• Research and generating/analysing relevant data

• Technology development activities

• Conducting pilot studies and clinical evaluations

• Implementation, scale-up and monitoring and evaluation activities

• Networking, knowledge sharing and/or technology transfer activities and associated administrative support

• Travel and subsistence costs: Finalists will be expected to attend 1-2 in-person events during 2027.

• Training needs

• Expert consultation/input

• Patient and public involvement

• Sustainability activities (e.g. exploring follow-on funding opportunities) to ensure successful implementation and long-term viability

• Core team’s salaries

• Overhead costs: Overheads (e.g., office space, utilities) are strictly capped at a maximum of 20%. They are only eligible to the extent they are directly linked to the development of your solution for the prize.

• Equipment Procurement: Any equipment must deliver "Value For Money", support the environmental sustainability of the solution being developed, and be adequately maintained and insured. If equipment is disposed of, leased, or sold, any income generated over £100,000 requires prior written consent.

Finalists will receive wraparound support, including connections to technical and snakebite experts and people with lived experience, access to facilities, capacity building, and matchmaking with key stakeholders to ensure their ideas reach the market.

The goal of the prize is to create sustainable solutions. During the development period, we will provide mentorship on business modelling and partnership building to support solutions to continue to improve health outcomes for people affected by snakebite long after the funding ends.

17 June 2026.

16 September 2026 at 12 noon UTC.

Entries must be submitted in English.

Please be assured that the quality of your English writing is not being evaluated. The assessment is based solely on the content of your entry and how well it meets the judging criteria.

Eligible entries will be reviewed by a pool of expert assessors and our judging panel.

Entries are scored against six criteria:

1. Impact

2. Innovation

3. Implementation & Sustainability

4. Understanding of End User

5. Team Capability

6. Safety & Ethics check

The judging panel is composed of international experts who can collectively speak to the prize's judging criteria.

The panel will be announced throughout the entry period of the prize.

A successful solution should be grounded in the lived realities of high-burden communities, centred on end-user needs, and demonstrate a credible path to long-term sustainability.

Teams should consider using the provided matchmaking platform to build a cross-disciplinary team.

Innovation has historically stalled across the snakebite patient journey due to low funding and fragmented data. The prize explicitly looks for fresh perspectives and balances risk-taking by rewarding out-of-the-box thinking without penalising early-stage or risky ideas.

Teams must balance bold creativity with real-world application through the specific design of the judging criteria weightings.

When evaluating entries to select the final 15 finalist teams, the Judging Panel will utilise a portfolio approach.

This means they will look beyond individual scores to ensure the final cohort represents a balanced diversity of solution types, target challenge points along the patient journey, and geographic settings to comprehensively address the systemic issues outlined in the challenge statement. We want to encourage innovation at the widest possible scale.

A 10-month period (January to October 2027) where the 15 finalists use the prize awards and support to accelerate their solutions.

By November 2027:

Launch finalists are expected to reach IML 2 (initial validation of the design of your solution, accompanied by feedback from end users)

Growth finalists are expected to reach IML 4 at a minimum (preparing for implementation or commercialisation, including sharing evidence of your solution being tested in real-world pilots.)

To become one of the 4 winners, the finalists will need to use the development period to build evidence on why their solution meets the judging criteria.

Finalists will receive wraparound support, including connections to technical and snakebite experts and people with lived experience, access to facilities, capacity building, and matchmaking with key stakeholders to support in their solution’s development and market implementation.

Finalists must submit refined solutions in October 2027 for a final round of judging. Up to 4 winners are then selected based on their progress against the judging criteria.

No. The 4 winners are selected from the pool of 15 finalists after a 10-month development period.

A period from December 2027 to December 2030 where 4 winners will use the grand prize to further implement their solutions.

Finalists and winners will be required to submit high-level quarterly progress reports to ensure the project is meeting its milestones and remains on track for the development period.

By November 2030:

Launch winners are expected to reach IML 3 (tested in real world pilots and preparing for implementation).

Growth winners are expected to reach IML 5 at a minimum (implementing in the field and assessing impact).

To become one of the 4 winners, the finalists will need to use the development period to make a compelling case to the judges on why their solution meets the judging criteria.

Finalists will receive wraparound support, including connections to technical and snakebite experts and people with lived experience, access to facilities, capacity building, and matchmaking with key stakeholders to support in their solution’s development and market implementation.

If your innovation involves human participants (e.g., surveys or clinical pilots) or animal studies, you must obtain the required approval before these activities begin.

Assessors and reviewers will be looking for proof points in your entry form to show that your solution will be developed and implemented responsibly - with a clear understanding of potential risks and a commitment to safeguarding patients and communities through testing and deployment.

An overview of the ethics required should be included in your entry form.

All entrants, finalists and winners will retain all intellectual property ownership in their entry (including the results and materials generated by you while participating in the Prize).

It is the entrant's responsibility, at your own cost, to protect and/or enforce your intellectual property.

Finalists and winners will undergo a due diligence process. This includes financial audits of the lead organisation, verification of legal status, assessment of safeguarding policies, and a review of the team's ability to manage large-scale funding.

All finalists must agree to provide information that will help the Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Team to understand the impact of their solution and the challenge prize.

We will share information finalist and winning teams provide to us in order to demonstrate the impact of the prize and the solutions it funds.

To reflect the size of the 4 winners’ prize funding, and Wellcome’s charitable aims, the winners will need to commit to disseminating the funded outputs of their solution in accordance with Wellcome’s Open Access Policy.

We will always get the finalists' and winners' permission to share information about their team and solution before sharing it publicly.

There are no terms or conditions associated with the 15 finalist teams should they choose to commercialise.

The 4 winners of the prize will be required to follow the following steps if they decide to commercialise:

Notify Wellcome that they intend to commercialise the results, outputs and/or intellectual property arising from the prize-funded activities and provide a draft commercialisation plan, outlining how the intended commercialisation efforts will deliver public benefit and address the human health impacts from snakebites.

Discuss any questions or concerns Wellcome have with the proposed commercialisation plan.

Obtain Wellcome’s prior written consent to the proposed commercialisation.

As a condition of consent, Wellcome may require future reporting on commercialisation efforts and may apply its standard revenue and equity sharing approach, which will require you to enter into a consent and revenue sharing agreement with them. Alternatively, Wellcome may agree to lower (or waive) its standard revenue share where the winning team can demonstrate how commercialisation will support greater access to, and adoption of, your developed solution.

Full guidance of Wellcome’s approach to commercialisation can be found here.

If you still have queries, contact the team at snakebite.prize@challengeworks.org