IDEA² 2025

IDEA² is designed to help biomedical innovators around the world to develop their project ideas and to provide the expertise to realize them. The program seeks to cultivate biomedical leaders by turning their idea into IDEA² by:

• Identifying a worthy area for inquiry or development.
• Defining the opportunity, assessing the potential impact, and establishing goals and milestones with a team of expert mentors
• Enabling, through resources, innovators to focus on the right problem at the right time
• Accelerating progress towards the goal through a network, facilitating to enable connections and associations from all sectors, disciplines, and professions

Put your healthcare technology idea on a path to impact

Based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, IDEA² provides transformative mentorship and expertise to emerging innovation leaders to develop their project ideas. Individuals and teams complete IDEA² with new technology projects clearly focused on compelling medical needs, broad networks of connections, and improved abilities to compete for collaborators and funding.

• Dedicated guidance: The expertise and connections available to teams ranges across elite institutions in Boston and other international research hubs. 
• Diverse exposure: IDEA² teams cover research areas ranging from new biomaterials to big data analysis—and they learn from one another's innovation journeys. 
• Proven method: The MIT linQ innovation method  helps teams refine their research objective, anticipate challenges, and identify multiple development paths. 

Why participate?

1. Turn your idea into a strong project proposal with the help of a network of top-tier advisors from different disciplines, professions, and sectors.
2. Gain experience in independently defining, articulating, and defending your idea.
3. Learn techniques for and gain practice in communicating your idea to specialists and non-specialists alike.
4. Gain access to a network of stakeholders in the biomedical value chain.
5. Work with project teams from around the world who share innovative spirit to bring new biomedical ideas forward.

2025 edition key dates

• August 26, 2024: Call for Applications opens
• October 20, 2024, 13:00 Eastern: Applications due
• Week of November 4, 2024: Announcement of IDEA² Class of 2025
• January 30-31, 2025: Kickoff workshop (in person at MIT)
• January – April: Mentor assignments (ongoing)
• April 7, 2025: Review Workshop (online)
• June 26-27, 2025: Commencement Workshop (in person at MIT)

IDEA² stages

Recruitment

• Project teams are recruited internationally through a call from universities, medical centers, and entrepreneur sector
• Focus on people and teams that can benefit most from mentorship and international expertise
• Partners can participate in recruiting and selection through many means, such as custom calls for applications, special events like competitions, sponsorships, and prizes.

Project mentoring

• Teams are matched with mentors for specific expertise
• Teams typically interact 1:1 with mentors 2–4 times, but there is no limit
• Impact proposition workshops help teams refine their project definition, strategy, and story
• Additional pitch skills workshops help teams prepare to make the case for support or collaboration
• Partners can participate as mentors, resource connections, and/or workshop faculty

After IDEA²

• Awardee teams connected to additional resources and support
• Teams compete for further funding and investment from other sources
• Teams enjoy expanded network access
• In some cases, teams start new companies