We are crowdsourcing the next generation of digital health applications to help people living with
autoimmune diseases monitor how their diet and nutrition impact their immune system health.
Why Your Innovation is Needed Now. Autoimmune diseases affect over 8% of the United States population, representing one of the most common chronic disease entities in the nation. Between 23.5 and 50.0 million Americans are estimated to be living with these conditions, with an economic impact exceeding $100 billion per year.
Despite high prevalence and morbidity, autoimmune diseases are understudied. Patients and clinicians alike have identified a critical unmet need: practical, hands-on tools to monitor the interplay between diet, nutrition, symptoms, and flares. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is calling on the problem-solver community to help close this gap.
The first NOURISH: Autoimmunity Challenge sought feasible, testable, and scalable ideas to empower patients living with and at risk of autoimmune disease to incorporate diet and nutrition into autoimmune disease research.
Winning proposals from the first NOURISH: Autoimmunity Challenge identified four core overarching themes.
Including submissions suggesting interventional studies testing specific dietary patterns or therapeutic diets.
Submissions focused on mechanistic and biomarker-driven approaches linking diet, the gut microbiome, and immune activity.
Concepts and submissions that propose the use of innovative data-driven methods for personalization, diet optimization, and real-world, real-time data capture and modeling to improve lived experience for people living with autoimmune diseases.
Submissions proposing patient centered frameworks that bring lived experience to the forefront.
We are seeking submissions that propose innovative, data-driven methods for personalization, diet optimization, and real-world, real-time data capture and modeling to improve the lived experience of people living with autoimmune diseases.
| Phase | Dates | Prizes |
| Phase 1: Prototype Development | October 1, 2026 – March 2027 | 10 prizes of $20K each |
| Phase 2: Optimization and Testing | July 2027- March 2028 | 5 prizes of $30K each |
| Phase 3: Live Demonstration & Final Evaluation | April 2028- September 2028 | 3 prizes of $100K each |
Access the session during the scheduled time at the following link: NOURISH II Office Hours Zoom
Link Meeting ID: 854 0454 4925
Passcode: 757338
If you are unable to attend feel free to reach out to the NOURISH Challenge Team at nourishchallenge@ensembleconsultancy.com with questions.
Compete across three phases to refine, validate, and launch your solution.
Design and implement initial digital health application prototypes.
Highly meritorious submissions from Phase 1 are invited to refine tools through beta-testing and end-user feedback.
Highly meritorious submissions from Phase 2 will be invited to further develop and test their digital health tool with a focus on improving functionality, usability, and real-world applicability such that the tool is ready for detailed demonstration and final evaluation.
To be eligible, individuals and members of a team must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Each Participant under 18 (and not an emancipated youth) MUST complete and include the signed parent or legal guardian consent form to participate. Private entities must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the U.S. Federal entities and Federal employees acting within the scope of their employment are not eligible. Each individual may participate in only one submission (whether as an individual, team member, or on behalf of an entity).
The NOURISH: Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge is open to everyone, including:
No, you will not be required to transfer your intellectual property rights to NIH to receive an award. However, by participating, you must grant the NIH an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free, nonexclusive worldwide license to publish, post, link to, share, and display your submission publicly.
Participants must warrant that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced nonexclusive licenses to the federal government. You retain all other intellectual property rights.
Each Participant under 18 years of age (and not an emancipated youth) at the time of submission MUST complete and include the signed parent or legal guardian consent form to participate and accept a cash prize on their behalf if awarded prize funds.
Yes, provided that all AI usage is fully disclosed in the submission materials. Participants should demonstrate their individual contributions to the
development and testing of the application. Source code may be requested for validation and evaluation purposes but will not be publicly released.
No. Participants are not required to obtain liability insurance, demonstrate financial responsibility, or agree to indemnify the federal government against third-party claims to participate.
Complete the NOURISH: Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge Registration at this LINK
We are looking for prototypes of digital health applications that provide people living with or at risk for autoimmune diseases with practical tools to monitor how diet and nutrition affect their immune system health. Part of the design could include connectivity to other digital health tools such as mobile health apps, wearable devices (like smartwatches and biosensors), continuous monitoring tools (like continuous glucose monitors), remote patient monitoring platforms, digital symptom diaries, and AI-enabled decision support tools. While tools that operate on either iOS or Android platforms are eligible for submission to phase 1, there is an expectation that proposals that advance to phase 2 will be capable of operating on both iOS and Android platforms.
The submission period for Phase 1: Prototype Development opens on October 1, 2026, and closes on January 8, 2027, at 8 PM ET.
NIH will award up to $650,000 in total prizes, allocated as follows:
Judges will evaluate phase 1 ideas, equally weighing each of these criteria:
Full judging criteria can be found on the NOURISH: Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge announcement.
Entries will be judged by a group of judges. All criteria will be weighed equally.
Yes, the six-page limit for the PDF narrative includes any references, appendices, figures, and tables. All content must fit within this constraint.
Eligibility to win a prize is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, or entities incorporated in and maintaining a primary place of business in the U.S. Please carefully review the detailed eligibility rules here.
Email nourishchallenge@ensembleconsultancy.com for instructions.
Each individual may participate in only one submission, whether as an individual, team member, or on behalf of an entity.
Yes, all presentation materials, including the video recording and slides, can be accessed directly at nourishchallenge.org. Link to video
The deadline for Phase 1 submissions is January 8, 2027.
You may submit as an individual, a team of individuals, or on behalf of an entity (such as your university). Please check with your University how they prefer you to proceed in submitting to this challenge, and whether they have specific rules to follow. Please be aware there is a strict limit of one submission per person.
Yes, multiple entities can collaborate together on a single submission. There are two options — if you wish to submit as an entity, then select one primary lead entity to officially accept any potential prize funds on behalf of the group, alternatively you could submit as a team in which case select one team leader to submit and officially accept any potential prize funds on behalf of the other team members.
The NOURISH: Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge is open to both for-profit and non-profit entities, as well as academic institutions.
No. Participants are limited to one submission per person, regardless of whether you apply as an individual, a team member, or an entity representative.
NIH will publicize the names and titles of the winning submissions and honorable mentions. Participants retain their IP rights. Whether or not a project is selected for a prize, participants retain full rights to release or develop their tools independently without any waiting period.
Eligibility follows the rules posted for the challenge. In the case of a private entity, they shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the U.S., and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, they shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.
Eligibility follows the rules posted for the challenge. In the case of a private entity, they shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the U.S., and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, they shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.
You can find the full judging criteria listed here https://www.nih.gov/challenges/nourish-autoimmunity-digital-health-challenge#judging-criteria
Participants in the NOURISH: Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge may focus on a single autoimmune condition or multiple diseases collectively. However, please reference the judging criteria to ensure you consider how your proposal will have broad applicability across people living with or at risk for multiple autoimmune diseases, and how it could meaningfully inform future research, clinical practice, or patient-centered care. https://www.nih.gov/challenges/nourish-autoimmunity-digital-health-challenge#judging-criteria
You may build upon existing platforms; however, submissions must demonstrate novel development, adaptation, or implementation specific to the NOURISH Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge. Participants (whether individuals, groups of individuals, or entities) may not use federal funds from a grant award or cooperative agreement to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions. Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions.
The use of AI tools in development of submission for the NOURISH: Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge is permitted, provided that all AI usage is fully disclosed in the submission materials (please include this in the submission narrative). Participants should demonstrate their individual contributions to the development and testing of the application and are advised to pay careful attention to the judging criteria to ensure development involves engagement with community members with lived experience. Source code may be requested for validation and evaluation purposes but will not be publicly released.
The judges will be assessing the following criteria for engagement: How effectively has the submission incorporated interdisciplinary perspectives and expertise into the design and development of the application? To what extent does the proposal demonstrate meaningful engagement with people living with autoimmune disease, patient advocacy organizations, scientists, clinicians, dieticians, caregivers, and other relevant constituents? Is there evidence that end-user needs, preferences, and lived experience have informed the prototype’s design, usability, and intended application?
