2026 Finalists

2026

President’s Innovation Challenge

Out of 400+ applications, we've selected 25 finalists who will pitch live on May 6. These ventures represent 11 Harvard schools and are one step closer to winning a share of $500,000+ in Bertarelli Foundation funding.

More than 300 external judges reviewed 180+ semifinalist applications and provided key feedback to founders on their ventures.

Industry

Program

School

Award

Adalat AI

Building India’s first end-to-end justice technology platform to address systemic inefficiencies in the judicial system.
Arul Health

Building an agentic AI operating system for chronic care navigation, starting in oncology and expanding across long-term conditions for patients and families.
BLKHLTH

Advancing health equity in Black communities through education, advocacy, research, and programs.
Bond Health

Accelerating patient enrollment in clinical trials by automating how sites find, contact, and enroll eligible patients.
Cancer Kids First

Normalizing the hospital experience and building community for pediatric cancer patients through the world’s largest youth-led cancer nonprofit.
Colombiando

Co-creating a new rural education model with unseen multigrade teachers, turning hard-to-reach one-room schools into learning hubs.
Enlaye

An AI-native platform that helps construction teams identify, quantify, and mitigate risk across the entire project lifecycle.
ExploreYou

Reimagining career exploration as fun, gamified week-in-the-life simulations that help students discover their strengths, assess their fit, and choose future paths with confidence.
FieldData

An AI-powered operating system for farms across Latin America — capturing data effortlessly and turning it into decisions that drive productivity and sustainability.
FIND Neuro

Revolutionizing drug-resistant epilepsy surgery with an FDA-path clinical decision support platform.
Haven Law

Building a nationwide AI legal intake platform to make legal services accessible to all Americans.
iNERDE Academy

Solving Africa’s teacher shortage by empowering community talent with an AI tutor, so children learn to read 20x faster at a tenth of the cost.
Lyv Health

Connecting wellness businesses to clinical services like blood testing, prescriptions, and peptides.
Maka

The first kids' streaming app built on child development science, not engagement algorithms.
Mona

Automating business capital access with AI agents.
MonitAir

The remote patient monitoring platform built for sleep medicine: helping practices monitor CPAP adherence, close care gaps, and get reimbursed for it.
NuCyRNA Therapeutics

Redefining RNA-targeting therapeutics, starting in neurodegenerative diseases.
Overture Therapeutics

Creating better, healthier weight-loss intervention therapies for treating obesity and its co-morbidities by targeting emerging biological pathways.
PathCision Medicine

Developing tissue-informed precision therapeutics with superior delivery and efficacy for cancer and other complex diseases.
Promakhos Therapeutics Inc.

Developing oral, non-immunosuppressive, small molecules to cure chronic inflammatory disorders.
Refine Technologies, Inc.

Developing AI peer review for research papers that provides reviewer-grade feedback in 30 minutes instead of months.
Revolv

Turning organic waste into affordable animal feed and fertilizer that boosts farmer incomes and nutrition.
Sole 1

Restoring mobility for people who cannot lift the front part of their foot using AI-powered robotic socks that assist with walking, prevent falls, and support nerve recovery.
Surna Technologies

Building Africa’s first data refinery, a sovereign AI cloud that enables nations to own, host, and analyze their data to support stability and economic growth.
Winko Solar

Delivering solar-powered oxygen to hospitals in Africa, with plans to expand globally.