Alcon Offers Eye Care Innovators a Shot at $1M Seed Investment
Alcon announced a collaboration with the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) to support its live Eye Pitch event to be held at the ARVO 2025 annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, May 3, 2025. In this contest, ARVO members with an entrepreneurial mindset will present their research, drug or device proposal to a panel of judges from the ARVO community and the Alcon Seed Fund, an incubator that identifies and invests in early and mid-stage, disruptive innovation within the ophthalmic field.
In advance of the event, ARVO invited members to submit a proposal for the Eye Pitch tailored to the Alcon Seed Fund’s existing areas of focus, including cataract/IOL, myopia, retina, glaucoma, ocular health, pharmaceutical, dry eye disease, contact lenses, digital technologies or white space, a category that invites novel, revolutionizing technologies. All proposals needed to be backed by preliminary research or proof-of-concept data.
Selected participants will present for 5-6 minutes and answer questions in front of an expert panel during the live Eye Pitch session on May 3. Three cash prizes will be awarded with the overall winner being advanced into the Alcon Seed Fund at the diligence stage, during which Alcon will further evaluate the project’s technical aspects and development plan and decide whether to make an investment worth up to $1M to help advance the technology.
“Annually, ARVO attracts some of the most gifted scientists from across the globe to collaborate and exchange ideas that address the most pressing visual challenges faced by patients and their health care providers, which is why we are delighted to collaborate with ARVO and help fund innovation,” Franck Leveiller, SVP, Global Research and Development, and Chief Scientific Officer, said in a company news release. “Started in 2022, the Alcon Seed Fund seeks out transformational innovation and demonstrates our commitment to discovering new ophthalmic approaches that enhance our existing initiatives at Alcon and complement our Alcon Research Institute (ARI) and Business Development and Licensing efforts.”