Our Vision

Improving competitiveness in Mexico is an urgent and difficult task that makes it essential to implement policies in all the sectors, as well as considerable investments in infrastructure and human capital.

To compete successfully, Mexico will have to accelerate its transition from an economy based in the export of products with little added value, to an economy of high- added value goods. The foundation of its future productivity and growth will be based in its potential to innovate.

Innovation represents much more than a mere scientific discovery. Innovation goes beyond science and technology and includes all the activities that encompass judgment of needs and the transformation of knowledge into commercial products, processes and services.

For innovation to succeed, the Mexican government has envisioned a National Innovation System evolving towards a "dynamic system of networks" that is international, with multiple public-private local and foreign associations, and with a specific focus in strengthening Mexico 's commercial relations with other countries.

The companies and institutions that form the Organizing Committee of the Awards for Innovation in Health and Food wish to contribute to this national effort. We are committed to promoting and encouraging a culture of creativity and innovation, where new ideas can have the potential to improve the quality of life and the well being of the population.

Our Mission

Mexico generates a considerable number of innovations in all areas of the life sciences sector. However, many of these ideas do not reach fruition or get to those that need them and can use them. The Awards for Innovation in Health and Food have been designed to take these research projects to the following level, and facilitate the successful marketing of this ideas.

By promoting new ways of collaboration in production and technological exchange, the Awards for Innovation in Health and Food will seek to cover some of the most important issues affecting the efficiency of the National Innovation System, such as promotion of scientific excellence and shortening the gap that has kept academia away from industry.

• INNOVAMEDICA



• Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD-México)



• Mexican Health Foundation (FUNSALUD)



• Mexican Industrial Property Institute (IMPI)



• Mexico-United States Foundation for Science (FUMEC)



• National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT)



• Sigma- Alimentos
• Academia Nacional de Medicina en México

This page will be available April 1st. 2006

Selection Criteria

The Awards will be selected based on the following criteria:

1. That the project represents an innovation that can be patented.
2. That the project has the potential to generate a commercial impact.
3. That the project has an orientation involved in the well being of the population

What do the Awards consist of?

TheAwards for Innovation in Health and Food have been designed with the purpose of promoting those research projects that are still in the early stages of commercial development, to the great ideas with solid scientific background that have the need to register their intellectual property rights, develop a sound business plan or define a fund-raising strategy.

To achieve these objectives, the institutions and companies involved in the organization of this project have developed a three-phase strategy that will enable the winners to take the first firm steps towards creating a high value-add business.

First Phase of the Awards:

The success in the commercial development of a research project depends, to a great extent, on the possibility to recover the investment made in the project, both locally as well as internationally.

For this purpose, during the first phase of the Awards for Innovation in Health and Food the winners will be advised, by the Organizing Institutions, in the preparation, presentation and submission of a PCT patent (Patent Cooperation Treaty) and will be paid all the expenses related to the procedures to cover the PCT patent in its international phase.

The request for patent will be submitted during the first half of 2007.

Second Phase of the Awards:

A research project with the potential to become a high value-add business requires direction and strategy, therefore in this phase the Organizing Institutions will assist the winners in taking their research projects to the Business Plan stage, giving the researcher a formal and solid document that will generate the opportunity to request funding to finance said project.

Specifically, the Business Plan will include a detailed market study, a development proposal for the project and a financial valuation of the project with its potential marketing strategies.

The Business Plan will be consolidated in the first half of 2007.

Third Phase of the Awards:

In this phase the winners will have the opportunity to enter a tutorial program with international experts, all of them with proven success backgrounds in capitalizing research projects and in transforming them into high value-add businesses.

The objective of this program will be to create a link where the winners can benefit from the accumulated experiences and knowledge of their tutors to ensure the commercial viability of the projects.

The advice that the winners of the Awards on Innovation in Health and Food will receive during this stage will allow them, among other elements, to define strategies to establish networks, raise funds, develop a successful business concept and systematically add value to an emerging company, thus substantially improving their chances for success.

This phase of the awards also includes a site visit to the tutors' workplaces on the dates that are best for the development of the project.

This phase will begin early 2007 and does not have a specific time frame.

¿Who can participate?

Any individual or company that has a legal address within the country of Mexico will be able to participate in the Awards for Innovation in Health and Food.

Participants may be employed in the academic sector, in health sector institutions, private industry or in a joint partnership.

Participants may compete on an individual basis, as a research team or even as an established company.

If there is already a patent pending or granted, the participating individual or company presenting a project must be the legal title holder or co-title holder of the research, or if applicable, its inventor.

If there is no patent pending or granted, the participating individual or company that presents a project should appear, in a future patent, as the legal title holder or co-title holder of the research, or if applicable, as its inventor.

Health Categories

• Innovation in Vaccines
• Innovation in Diagnostics and Medical Devices

Those developments implying diagnostics methods that are carried out directly on the human body will be excluded, as this is not accepted as part of a patent. Not to be excluded are those diagnostics carried out outside the human body, means, apparatus, substances, equipment, new systems used in surgery or diagnostic treatment methods.

• Innovation in Novelty Molecules and Active Principles

Those developments comprising a new chemical compound will be assessed, with the exception of developments in salts, derivatives, solvates, crystalline forms, intermediaries of known compounds

All the above categories will preferably refer to one or several of the following:

• Oncology
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Infectious diseases

Food Categories

• Novelty products or processes in the food sector

Requirements to enter the projects

The Projects shoud be presented in English and Spanish using the formal template of the Awards

• Must be an original research:
• For those projects that already have a patent pending or granted: It will be acceptable if the contents of the project have been made public, through oral or written description, for the exploitation or any other means of broadcasting or of information, whether in Mexico or abroad, provided said information was divulged after the date the request for patent was filed.
• For those projects that do not have a patent pending or granted: It will not be acceptable if the contents of the project have been made public, through oral or written description, for the exploitation or any other means of broadcasting or of information, whether in Mexico or abroad.

• Fiscal domicile:
• In order to qualify, the individual or company presenting a project for the Awards on Innovation in Health and Food must have a legal domicile in Mexico.

• Ownership:
• It must be indicated which individuals or institutions have the rights to profit from and exploit the technological development and if applicable under which conditions will access be granted to said development.
• If the research was carried out in a public or private institution, the right of industrial property will belong to said institution.
• If a contract or agreement related to the industrial property rights was entered into between the inventor and the institutions the inventor works for, this must be declared in writing and said documents must presented when presenting the project.

  Format to Present the Projects

The Projects shoud be presented in English and Spanish using the formal template of the Awards

The format must be accompanied by the following personal information of the submitting individual

• Full name
• E-mail
Telephone number

The format must be accompanied by the following professional information of the submitting individual

• Name of the company or institution where he/she works
• Position
• Address
• Email
• Telephone
• Fax

The format must include the following CV information of the submitting individual

• Academic background
• Brief description of the research carried out
• Work Experience
• Academic Experience
• Publications and patents

The format describing the proposal must not exceed 20 pages and must include the following sections:

• Title of the proposal
• Purpose of the proposal or innovative development
• What is the scope for the application of the innovation (diagnostic, pharmacological, nutrition, etc).
• Clinical background or problematic that justifies the development of the innovation
• Description of the originality and novelty of the technological development, emphasizing the difference between the previous description in the technical field of the innovation
• Results of experiments supporting it
• Possible impacts of the project ( social, economic, environmental, scientific)

Calendar for the Awards for Innovation in Health and Food

Reception of Projects	April 1st. 2006 to July 31, 2006
Assessment of Projects	August 1st. 2006 to November 15, 2006
Finalists' Interviews with Judges	November 27 to November 30, 2006
Announcement of Winners	November 30, 2006
Awards Ceremony	February 2007

Where do I register my proyect?

The Projects will be accepted until the 31st of July

The format presented in Spanish            The format presented in English

Instructions to download the format:

• In order to download the format click the right mouse button and select (Save target as)
• The file is a PDF. fotmat, If you do not count with this software please visit the following page to download Adobe Acrobat. Adobe Acrobat
• The formats are editable archives, You can save your work at any time to continue working with it later
• Once You finish filling the formats please send them by email to the following direction : premiosinnovamex@merck.com
• Remember that it is necessary to fill the format in English and in Spanish version