GENERAL PRIZE RULES

1. The entry must involve a technology, product, service, or process aimed at solving a problem related to the world’s water, food and agriculture challenges. The systems have numerous opportunities and challenges to solve related to policy, technology, data sensing, analytics, implementation, financing, end-to-end solutions, etc. We encourage diverse and creative submissions.

2. A team must be comprised of at least one student who is fully enrolled at any college or university in the U.S.

3. At least one student presenter from the team must be available to attend a our final pitch event on May 6, 2024

4. Teams are not eligible to participate in the Spring 2024 MIT Water, Food & Agriculture Innovation Prize if they have secured combined funding, grants, prize money, or revenue greater than $100k (exclusive of funding explicitly awarded for research, technology, or product development).

5. Entering teams must be prepared to provide documentation to validate any claims that are made concerning the intellectual property underlying their business plans, including any claims concerning the licensing of Third-Party IP. Entries should be made with the full understanding of MIT’s regulations on Intellectual Property Rights. 

6. Innovations at all stages are welcome to apply. However, past winners of the Prize have been able to demonstrate the potential to take their innovation to market within a reasonable time horizon (~5yrs).

Prize payments are treated as income by MIT and the IRS, regardless of whether the payment is made to an individual or a company. Non-U.S. citizens are taxed on their prize money up front at a rate of 30%, which is withheld from their prize checks.