About the Challenge

The August 28, 2020 submission deadline has passed. Winner(s) will be announced in November 2020.


The problem we are trying to solve

About 6.5 million American adults live with heart failure, a chronic and progressive disorder that can be debilitating. Though known to be a multi-organ, systemic syndrome with many related but seemingly different symptoms, heart failure is often simply categorized by a single measurement – left ventricular ejection fraction. Research indicates that physiological, social, behavioral, environmental, and genetic features may all have considerable influence in heart failure. Simply put, we do not know enough about how these  factors contribute to adult heart failure development and its consequences.

To help fill the gaps, the NHLBI has created the Big Data Analysis Challenge: Creating New Paradigms for Heart Failure Research. The Challenge is designed to foster innovation and address the need for new open-source models that can define sub-categorizations of adult heart failure. These models will support new research hypotheses that further advancements in the management of this disorder.

The types of Solutions we will consider

We are looking for an adult heart failure sub-phenotyping scheme that incorporates many disease-associated factors. The scheme will create a new paradigm for supporting future research focused on the mechanism of heart failure development, diagnosis, and, ultimately, prevention and treatment.

An invitation to develop and submit Solutions

The NHLBI invites eligible Participants to enter this Big Data Analysis Challenge: Creating New Paradigms for Heart Failure Research by August 28, 2020.

The NHLBI will give prizes for up to five Solutions. Each prize will be worth up to $50,000 and will go to Participants who submit winning Solutions.

Winning Solutions will be

  • novel, pragmatic, accessible research tools for a broad spectrum of heart failure researchers
  • free and openly available to the research community

Participants are strongly encouraged to take advantage of NHLBI-funded datasets in the development of their Solutions and are also welcome to utilize other relevant data for their analyses. Learn more about the available NHLBI datasets and conditions of access for entrants.

Important Dates

Solution Packages must be submitted to nhlbi_challenge@nhlbi.nih.gov by NOON EDT on August 28, 2020.

  • Challenge Launch: February 28, 2020
  • Competition Period: February 28, 2020 – August 28, 2020
  • Judging Period: September – October 2020
  • Winner(s) Announced: November 2020

Prizes

NHLBI will award up to a total of $250,000. Up to five (5) winners will be selected, with each winning up to $50,000. NHLBI will announce the results of the competition and publicly display the winning Solutions. For information about prize payments and the Award Approving Official click here.

Statutory Authority to Conduct the Challenge

The NHLBI is conducting this Challenge under the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Reauthorization Act of 2010, as amended [15 U.S.C. § 3719].” For more information about the NHLBI statutory authorization click here.