The Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize

The Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize, a global challenge initiative from Wellcome and delivered by Challenge Works, targets the severe consequences of snakebite envenoming. Each year, venomous snake bites affect up to 2.7 million people worldwide, resulting in over 100,000 deaths and 400,000 permanent disabilities. Rural, poor, and agrarian populations in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia, and Latin America bear the heaviest burden, often lacking timely access to adequate medical care.

The prize invites innovators globally to propose and scale solutions that bolster community-level responses, expedite access to appropriate treatment, or enhance the delivery of snakebite care. It accommodates early-stage ideas through the Launch Track, which seeks proof-of-concept, and more developed solutions via the Growth Track, aimed at broader implementation. The programme adopts a multi-disciplinary lens, fostering collaboration across fields to generate technological, social, logistical, and systems-based innovations. Through a staged process of assessment, refinement, and final evaluation, the prize identifies and supports the most promising approaches capable of delivering near-term, transformative improvements in the patient pathway from bite to effective emergency intervention.

All submissions must be completed via the online form hosted on Submittable. The lead organisation is required to create a Submittable account in order to access the entry form.

The form is divided into five parts:

1. Eligibility form – an initial screening.
2. About your entry – a summary of the submission.
3. Entry form – track-specific questions that are evaluated against the judging criteria.
4. Declaration – confirms eligibility and acceptance of the terms and conditions.
5. Additional information – used for programme evaluation and not scored.

Applicants may save their progress and return to finish the form at a later time. The entry form must be filled out in English.

Prior to submitting, applicants are advised to consult the innovator handbook and terms and conditions, and to confirm that their solution corresponds with the selected track and challenge statement. For queries, assistance with matchmaking, or requests for accessibility accommodations, contact snakebite.prize@challengeworks.org.

Applications undergo an initial eligibility screening. Those that pass are evaluated by expert assessors and judges using established criteria. From this pool, a maximum of 15 teams are chosen as finalists, who then enter a 10-month period to develop their solutions further.

At the end of this phase, the finalists present their refined solutions and long-term plans for a second evaluation by the expert panel. Based on this round, up to four teams are selected as winners, receiving the larger prize amounts to support continued development and implementation.