TCO Innovation Competition

TCO Innovation Competition is sponsored by George Washington University Technology Commercialization Office (TCO). This competition gives GW inventors the chance to pitch unlicensed, patent-pending GW technologies to potential partners and investors and compete for prize money.

TCO Innovation Competition | Technology Commercialization Office | The George Washington University TCO Innovation Competition The George Washington University Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) showcases promising and impactful GW research with commercial potential. This event provides a forum for GW inventors to pitch to a panel of judges including experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and industry professionals.

Presenters have an opportunity to win a combined total of at least $30k in prizes . This year’s event, last held April 2026, also featured the induction of new members to the GW Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors . Prize money is for the development of a prototype or proof-of-concept.

Applicants must have an unlicensed invention submitted to TCO at the time of application. Inventions were required to be submitted through the GW Inventor Portal (entry via single sign-on) prior to application. All participant teams had to include a GW inventor.

Participants submit a 10-minute slide presentation with notes and a 3-5 sentence elevator pitch for the technology. TCO will choose finalists from preliminary pitches.

2026 Innovation Competition Winners Life Sciences $10,000 prize Dual-targeting therapies against solid tumors for a novel class of small molecules that targets PTPN1/2 enzymes to both directly suppress solid tumor growth and enhance immune responses, enabling a more precise and effective cancer therapy.

Alberto Boque-Pardos* and Katherine Chiapinelli Targeted Genomic Language Models to Analyze DNA , a genomic language-based platform that uses large language models to analyze DNA/RNA sequences without reference databases, enabling scalable, accurate detection of microbial features and disease -related genetic variants.

Keith Crandall* & Ali Rahnavard Physical Sciences $10,000 prize A Versatile and Flexible Interconnection Network Design for Chiplet-based Manycore Architecture , a machine learning-based network-on-chip (NoC) framework that uses AI driven detection and mitigation to enhance security, reduce latency, and improve energy efficiency in multicore computing systems.

Ahmed Louri, Ke Wang*, & Hao Zheng Autonomous Edge Monitoring for High-Performance Filaments for Additive Materials , a multi-bay, sensor system for 3D printing filaments that monitors material health in real time and automatically adjusts storage conditions to maintain optimal performance.

Kartik Bulusu & Sumner Gubisch* 2024 Innovation Competition Winners Life Sciences $10,000 prize Oxytocin for reversing respiratory depression from opioids and other drugs of abuse for the treatment of opioid overdoses involving fentanyl and xylazine laced fentanyl (MI).

Joan Escobar, Olga Dergacheva, David Mendelowitz* Melanocortin receptor 4 agonist, setmelanotide, in opioid-induced respiratory depression for a potent respiratory stimulant, which can treat OIRD. Vsevolod Y Polotsky*, Mateus R Amorim, David Mendelowitz Malaria mRNA vaccine for the development of mRNA vaccines targeting malaria transmission and infection.

Nirbhay Kumar*, Drew Weissman, Clifford Thomas Holeski Hayashi, Yi Cao Physical Sciences $10,000 prize Chemical-free direct lithium extraction from brines for the method to production of lithium hydroxide from Geothermal Brine. Xitong Liu*, Lingchen Kong Height-controlled mirror (HCM) for 3D super-resolution nanoscopy for a novel height-controlled mirror with increased accuracy, and detection rate.

Inhee Chung* Self neutralizing air breathing plasma thruster for the development of an air-breathing plasma thruster, which ionizes and neutralizes the air particles at the same instant. Michael Keidar, Anmol Taploo*, Li Lin 2022 Innovation Competition Winners Life Sciences $10,000 Finalist prize 3D Bioprinted Anisotropic Cardiac Patch for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI).

Lijie Zhang, Haitao Cui, Timothy Esworthy* Plasma Discharge Tube (PDT) for Brain Tumor Treatment. Michael Keidar*, Li Lin, Jonathan Sherman, Vikas Soni, Dayun Yan, Xiaoliang Yao Audience's choice poster ($5,000 prize) CytoCapture of Immune Cells to Detect Internal Infections. Richard Wargowsky*, Faisal Al Munajjed*, Timothy McCaffrey (accepted award but declined prize money).

Prize went to runner-up: Apoptosis resistant stem cell therapy in diabetic kidney disease. Sabyasachi Sen* Physical Sciences $10,000 Finalist prize Pipe Dream: Low-cost Renewable Jet Fuel . Adelina Voutchkova-Kostal*, Diana Ainembabazi, Darren Dolan, Jonathan Horlyck A Hardware-based Cyber Deception Framework Against Malware .

Guru Venkataramani, Preet Derasari*, Kailash Gogineni* Audience's choice poster ($5,000 prize) AI-Driven Real-time Nerve Detection and Visualization for Surgical Precision. Chung Hyuk Park*, Baijun Xie*, Gary Milam Jr.