FAQ

In August 2025, the City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency launched the BioHealth Innovation Challenge to invite game-changing proposals to develop and operate a biosciences incubator lab in one of the City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency Redevelopment Areas, with preference for a location in or near the Las Vegas Medical District, establishing a sustained operation that provides meaningful benefits to the local community. One transformative project will receive up to $10 million.

Please contact us with any challenge-related questions, requests for help with accessibility and special accommodations, and technical support. 

Once you have registered and throughout the challenge, we will send important notifications to the email address associated with your account, as well as the primary and secondary contacts listed on your registration form. There are three important steps you can take to make sure these messages are received promptly:

1. Add our email address to your contacts.

2. Whitelist our email address. Here are instructions to add to your whitelist in most major email providers.

3. Update your registration form right away if one of your contacts changes. If you need to make a contact change after the application window has closed, please email us, and we will assist you.

The BioHealth Innovation Challenge welcomes applications from organizations and individuals over the age of 18 years. Applicants from around the world are eligible to apply. Each applicant must identify a Lead Participant who will assume responsibility for the receipt and management of any award. The following organizations are eligible to apply: 

• Any company or business, either privately held or publicly traded, for which the entity can provide evidence of good standing in all relevant and governing jurisdictions.  

• An entity that is recognized under the law of the applicable jurisdiction as a non-governmental organization, a charitable organization, a social welfare organization, a not-for-profit organization, or similar-type entity that is not a for-profit organization or government agency.    

• An entity organized under the laws of the applicable jurisdiction which has received a tax determination letter from the IRS or has been determined to be the equivalent of a section 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) or (2) organization by NGO Source for which an equivalency determination has not expired and would be in effect or could extended through the date of the project to be supported.    

• A nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) or (2) of the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") that has received a tax determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS").    

• A private foundation under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC that has received a tax determination letter from the IRS.  

• A fiscally-sponsored nonprofit organization. 

• A public college, junior college, or university under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC that has received a tax determination letter from the IRS. 

• A PreK-12 public, private, or charter school. 

• Individual or team of individuals who are 18 years of age or older.  

• Federal, state, and/or local government agencies, including a tribal government or tribal-owned enterprise.  

Review the Rules for a complete set of eligibility requirements.

The City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency identified key project areas with which proposals should align:

• Artificial Intelligence and Technology Integration

• Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

• Data Science and Health Informatics

• Ethics and Environmental Biotechnology

• Genomics and Genetic Engineering

• Intensive Rehabilitation Equipment and Protocols

• Medical Devices and Diagnostics

• Microbiome and Public Health

• Nanotechnology and Biomaterials

• Neurological Research & Rehabilitation

• Next Generation Sequencing

• Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering

• Therapeutics and Biopharmaceuticals

Eligible projects should be able to demonstrate proof of concept, evidence of scaling, or current operations at scale. Early-stage projects are not eligible to apply. Review the submission requirements for more information.

At the time of the award agreement’s execution, the winner must be duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the State of Nevada and qualified to do business in the State of Nevada. The Nevada Secretary of State website details the requirements to form a business in Nevada.  

All proposed projects must serve and benefit communities in Las Vegas, Nevada. Proposed projects must be located exclusively in a Redevelopment Area, as defined by the City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency, with preference for a location in or near the Las Vegas Medical District. A map of the Las Vegas Medical District can be found here.  

Lead Participants must have a capital budget of at least $20 million to be used during the three-year project (construction) period, plus at least $10 million to invest in operations over 10 years, for a total project cost of at least $30 million. If selected as the winner, the award can be used towards the total $20 million capital budget. In no event can the award funds be used for any expenses that are not capital expenses directly related to the proposal. 

We encourage you to first assess your fit and eligibility for the BioHealth Innovation Challenge, then register no later than 3 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 to participate. Registration is required and is a simple two-step process. First, create a username and password then check your inbox to confirm your registration. Next, complete the online registration form. Once you are registered, submit your application online no later than 3 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

You may only complete one submission as the Lead Participant except as described below. A participant can serve as a partner on a team for multiple submissions as long as each of those submissions proposes a separate, distinct project. This means each project can only be submitted once, and we leave it up to each team to designate their eligible Lead Participant. 

Regional or location-specific branches of larger organizations, as well as departments, schools, and nonprofits within or based in a college/university, can each register and submit separately as the Lead Participant on one application.

In all circumstances described above, the proposed projects must be separate and distinct. There should be no overlap in team members. The intent of the policy is to ensure that any team is concentrating their best effort into a single application. We encourage teams to select a single project that best represents your organization's ability to deliver a proposal that meets the scoring criteria. 

Review the Rules for more information.

Each application must include a brief video of no more than 90 seconds that showcases your project. This DOES NOT need to be a professionally produced video – a video shot on a smartphone is acceptable.  

The following are instructions for recording and uploading your video on YouTube:

1. Record a video using your smartphone’s camera app

2. Download and open the YouTube app

3. Sign-in or create an account on YouTube  

4. In YouTube, select “Create” > “Upload a Video”

5. Select your video and press “Next”

6. Set your video’s visibility to “Unlisted,” which will allow only those with the URL link to view your video (do not set to private or public)

7. Select “Upload Video”

8. Check to make sure embedding is turned on.

For more information about video guidelines, review the submission requirements. If you need technical support, you can email us.

Once the submission deadline passes, the BioHealth Innovation Challenge team will perform an administrative review to confirm each submission meets the Rules and submission requirements before advancing to Evaluation Panel review. All reviewers will use the scoring rubric. 

Informed by the Evaluation Panel, the Selection Committee will review top-scoring submissions and request additional information as needed. The winner will be publicly announced in Fall 2026.

Each Evaluation Panel judge scores and comments on the submissions assigned to them using the scoring rubric. Not only will you receive scores on your submission from five of the judges, but you’ll also get feedback. In addition to numeric scores, Evaluation Panel members are required to provide comments to justify each score and note their overall impression of each application.  

We find that this feedback is one of the most important aspects of participating in challenges - and that even if you are not selected as the winner, you walk away with valuable feedback that you can then use to refine your proposal and seek other funding or expanded support. 

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Awards funds are only eligible to be used for capital expenses directly related to the project and not for operational expenses and/or indirect costs associated with the project. Such eligible capital expenses may include, but are not limited to, costs to acquire, construct or improve land, buildings or equipment. The award may not be used for any working capital expenses such as payroll, maintenance, or other general day-to-day expenses.

Award funds may not be used: 

• To influence the outcome of any specific public election or to carry on, directly or indirectly, any voter registration drive (within the meaning of United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 4945(d)(2)); 

• To carry on propaganda or otherwise to attempt to influence legislation within the meaning of Code Section 4945(d)(1); 

• To distribute funds to any organization not related to the proposal; 

• To make a grant to any organization not identified in the proposal, to make a grant to any individual for travel, study, or other similar purposes, or to make a grant to any organization, except in compliance with the provisions of Sections 4945(g) or (h), as the case may be; 

• For the creation of any endowment or for the aggregation of philanthropic capital by organizations that regrant to nonprofit organizations; 

• For the creation of a venture capital fund, or pooled funds to invest in or distribute to for-profit organizations; 

• For loans or microloans to individuals, nonprofit, or for-profit entities; 

• To fund general operating support for the Lead Participant and/or any partners; 

• For any expenses that are not capital expenses directly related to the proposal; 

• To fund political organizations (501(c)(4) organizations and 527s). 

• For any purpose that is in conflict with the provisions of Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 279; the City of Las Vegas Municipal Code, Article VIII; the City of Las Vegas Municipal Code, Title 19 (Unified Development Code); any City of Las Vegas plans or policies concerning redevelopment as set forth by the City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency; or any other provision of the Nevada Revised Statutes or the City of Las Vegas Municipal Code. 

Review the Rules for more information.

The winner will be publicly announced in Fall 2026. The City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency will work with the winner to execute the award agreement. Note that the agreement on this website is provided as an example only. Each agreement governing the use of awards may vary, depending on the nature of the project, the organization receiving the award, and the City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency. The winner must enter into an award agreement within 60 days of any notice of award.  

Following the execution of the award agreement, the project will be implemented over a three-year construction period and at least 10 years of operations. The award funds may be disbursed to the winner on a reimbursement basis, and more details about this process will be established when executing the award agreement. Review the Rules for more information.