High Tech West 2026
The Office of the Vice President for Research and its Applied Medical & Engineering (AM&E) Lab would like to invite you to the annual High Tech West Intramural Pitch Competition scheduled for February 25th and 26th, 2026.
High Tech West (formerly known as the Remote and Austere Conditions (RAC) Grand Challenge) is the largest intramural pitch competition and research showcase sponsored by the University of Utah and designed to fund innovative research projects focused on developing novel techniques, technologies, and methods supporting our national security priorities and requirements. The competition aims to award $1M in total funding to teams (up to $250K per award) that have been preparing for the competition for the past six months. Final presentations from more than two dozen internal pitch teams will be judged by a panel of experts from relevant scientific fields, industry, government, academia, and funding entities with a direct interest in fostering accelerated translational research supporting our nation's warfighting and national security objectives.
Spanning two days, High Tech West is organized specifically around selected national security-related themes for this year's pitch competition:
Wednesday, February 25th: Biotech & Medicine in Austere Conditions
Thursday, February 26th: Engineering / Aerospace & National Security
This event offers invaluable networking opportunities with the university's research community, industry partners, and esteemed representatives from federal funding agencies. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Attendance is limited, but free-of-charge. We are currently finalizing the event's final agenda, a list of agency representatives, and other relevant information for the event. Please note that this is an invite-only event, as sensitive application information will be shared.
For more information, please contact Jim.McDonough at [email protected] with any questions.
We look forward to seeing you at this year's High Tech West competition!
Please register to see the exact location of this event.
For sponsorship opportunities along with additional background please visit https://amelab.utah.edu/high-tech-west/