12th Annual BEAR Cage Competition
The Application Portal is now open for the ATS 2026 BEAR Cage Competition!
The ATS Drug Device Discovery and Development (DDDD) Committee invites you to apply to the 12th Annual BEAR Cage (Building Education to Advance Research) competition by the Feb. 9, 2026 deadline.
The top three submissions chosen by the DDDD Committee will pitch their highly innovative research proposals to a panel of translational science experts representing academia, industry, and governmental sectors in front of a live audience at the ATS International Conference in May 2026 in Orlando, FL.
The panel, with audience participation, will “vet” these proposals with each presenter, providing a unique “shark-tank” like learning environment that fuels real-time feedback and propels the strategic thinking required for these novel ideas to become innovations. After each presentation, the live panel and audience will have sufficient time to ask questions to each of the top three contestants.
Ultimately, the panel will award one grand prize winner a $10,000 prize and the two runner-up proposals $2,500 each.
**You will need to enter your ATS login information on the first page to get into the portal. If you do not already have an ATS login, you can create one on the login page.
For any questions about the application process or the competition for ATS 2026, please send an email to dddd@thoracic.org.