John Hopkins University: healthcare design competition

The Johns Hopkins University, a leading private research university located in the United States annually holds a healthcare design competition to support student led teams from around the world who have developed innovative healthcare solutions. The John Hopkins healthcare design competition provides a platform for students to showcase their ideas and compete for cash prizes while addressing real-world health challenges.

Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University is a leading private research university located in the United States. It is known for its strong focus on innovation, research, and healthcare advancements, and provides students with opportunities to solve real-world problems through design and engineering.

Competition prize

Winners of the JHU design competition will receive:

First place: $5,000
Second place: $3,000
Third place: $1,000

Aside from the cash prizes, participants can expect to benefit from the following:

• Opportunity to present projects to industry experts
• Global recognition and exposure
• Networking opportunities with professionals in healthcare and technology

Eligibility

To qualify for the Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition, participants must:

1. Be part of a student-led team
2. Be enrolled as a full time student (undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral level)
3. Submit a healthcare related project or innovation
4. Ensure the project was started recently and meets competition guidelines

How to apply

Project must be focused on a healthcare application in either of the 4 tracks

1. Designs of Solutions for Advanced Health Systems
2. Global Health/ Humanitarian Design
3. Healthcare Apps/ Digital Health

Step one: At the beginning of the competition, participants must first submit a two page proposal of their project.
The design brief or proposal is an executive summary of the project’s design. The brief should be written for an audience of MedTech engineers and designers who may not be as familiar with the participant’s clinical and solution space.

Format:

• Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger. (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.)
• Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Type may be no more than six lines per inch. Use standard paper size (8 ½” x 11). Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins.
• Figures, plots, and/or photos are highly recommended but are counted towards the page limit.
• References can be included in a separate page and are not part of the two-page requirement

Step two: Finalists will be announced in the second month after the competition’s start date.

Step three: Finally, after the second month, the final pitch will occur (usually virtual).

Few things to note:

• Postdoc research projects are ineligible.
• Projects that have utilized significant funding (greater than $100K) are ineligible.
• Projects that are not run by full-time students are ineligible. For example, projects run by startup companies or faculty are ineligible.

Application deadline

Applications for the 2026 cycle is now closed. Keep up to date with next year’s application details at the Johns Hopkins healthcare design competition website.