Frequently Asked Questions

Definitions

Q: What are microfibers (or microfibres)?

A: Depending on your area of expertise, you might define microfibers (microfibres) differently. The Microfibre Consortium (TMC) defines microfibres as such:

Fibre, n. In textiles, a generic term for any one of the various types of matter that form the basic elements of a textile and which are generally characterised by flexibility, fineness and high ratio of length to thickness.

Fibre Fragment, n. A short piece of textile fibre, broken from the main textile construction. NOTE: Fibre fragments are of particular concern as aquatic pollutants; they are often incorrectly referred to as “microfibres.” TMC are currently working on definition of length, to be provided based on primary research.

Microfibre, n. A fibre with a linear density of less than 1 denier.NOTE: Polyester microfibres typically have a diameter <10^(-5)m; this is a frequently referenced dimension, but not the formal definition of a microfibre.NOTE: Compare fibre fragments.

Microplastic, n. A plastic particle originating from a number of different industries and measuring <5 mm in size.

In the context of The Microfiber Innovation Challenge, innovations should strive to prevent or decrease the release of fiber fragments, and specifically plastic-based fibers that persist in the environment through upstream innovations (replacements, manufacturing processes, weaving, treatments, etc.).

Q: How do microfibers get into the environment?

A: The main pathways that microfibers reach the environment include: (1) Stormwater - rivers / storm drains (this includes road runoff and anything that washes into the sea from land); (2) wastewater treatment (water that is treated from our homes - some fibers make it through); (3) air deposition (during the manufacturing process and consumer use - including clothing dryers) (4) Break down in landfills after consumer disposal.

See also this infographic created by The Microfibre Consortium, which demonstrates the multiple factors and points along the garment production value chain that can affect fiber shedding.

Q: Is microfiber shedding just a problem with synthetic fabrics and fibers, like polyester?

A: No, both natural and synthetic fabrics and fibers shed. Synthetic fiber shedding occurs with polyester, nylon, acrylic, etc. Natural fiber shedding occurs as well (e.g. cotton, rayon, viscose, and wool). Blended fabrics are common, and also shed fibers (e.g. cotton/polyester blends.). Fabrics of any type, natural or synthetic, often include chemical coatings and finishes, which are transported with the microfibers when they shed, and can also cause environmental harm.

Q: What is the application process?

A: The application process is outlined in the Innovator’s Handbook. All applications must be submitted through the Submittable platform by the deadline.

The due date for the first round application was June 25, 2021, (11:59 PM EDT / GMT -4). The first round application consisted of 13 short essay questions and a short demographic questionnaire.

After the deadline, Conservation X Labs (CXL) reviewed all applications to ensure that they were eligible. CXL notified applicants through email of their eligibility in early July, 2021.

After the first round application, CXL notifed semi-finalist applicants through email and invited teams to prepare the second round application in mid-August, 2021. In the second round application, applicants are asked to provide more details on their business model and demand, including data and evidence of customer / user discovery, and data on the environmental impact of the innovation. You can view the second round application questions here.

Second round applications are due on October 13, 2021, 11:59 PM EDT. The applications must be submitted online via the Submittable platform.

In addition, semi-finalists invited to the second round will have the option to participate in a peer feedback process where applicants will have the opportunity to receive constructive feedback from Scout Teams (see the FAQs below for further details).

Twelve finalists who make it past the second round will prepare a pitch deck with support from CXL and partners. The pitch will be presented to a panel of diverse and distinguished Judges. The Judges will determine the prize-winners.

Q: In our application, the first round Reviewers posed questions to our team as part of their review. In the second round application, do we need to respond to these questions?

A: No, you do not need to respond to any of the questions posed by the first round Reviewers in your second round application. The first round Reviewers may have provided feedback to you in the form of questions, but the second and first round Reviewers are different people, so they are not expecting to see your responses. You may use the first round Reviewers' feedback as best suits you, for example, a question from a Reviewer might reveal that you need to clarify something in your second round application.

Q: Can our team modify the pitch deck (e.g. the color, font, layout, etc.) to match our company's branding guidelines?

A: Yes, you can modify the pitch slides to match your branding guidelines (including the color, font, layout, etc.). It is important that you maintain the content in the slides so that the Reviewers can evaluate your application against the criteria.

Q: What is the peer feedback process?

A: This process has been updated since we launched the Challenge and based on our work with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Anyone who is interested, including Round One applicants who are not semi-finalists, can volunteer to serve on a “Scout Team” or be an Advisor to semi-finalist teams.

Scout teams will help creatively solve problems related to a particular semi-finalist team’s proposal to make it stronger.

Advisors will field questions from all teams.

Scout Team members and Advisors will be asked to sign an NDA prior to working with the semi-finalist teams.

Q. What are the expectations of Scout Teams in the peer feedback process?

A: If you are a member of a Scout Team, you will meet with your assigned semi-finalist team in mid-August to discuss how you can help enhance their application. The amount of interaction you have with your semi-finalist team beyond that introduction meeting is up to you and the semi-finalist team. You will then be asked to attend a one-hour workshop to help you think about problems and generate solutions to them using your team's unique expertise. Finally, based on the work your team does on the semi-finalist’s application, you will be asked to provide a final report to your semi-finalist team on October 6th, one week prior to the second round application deadline. You are expected to sign an NDA to protect the semi-finalists.

Q. What is included in the Scout Teams' reports to the semi-finalists?

A: We will instruct the Scout Teams to focus on a reply to this essay question in the second round application:

Describe the top three real or perceived risks that may impact the feasibility and long-term viability of your innovation (e.g. technological business/financial, regulatory, consumer behavior) and describe how you plan to mitigate or reduce these three risks.

Q: What are the expectations of semi-finalist teams in the peer feedback process?

A: If you are part of a semi-finalist team, the only time commitment will involve meeting with your assigned Scout Teams in mid-August to discuss how they can help enhance your application. The amount of interaction you have with your Scout Teams beyond that introduction meeting is up to you and the Scout Teams. You will receive a final report from your Scout Teams on October 6th, one week prior to the second round application deadline, giving you time to incorporate any feedback. The Scout Teams will have access to the same portion of your first round application that was evaluated by first round Reviewers (the essay questions, not the Demographic section) and the written feedback provided by Reviewers.

You may opt out of partnering with a Scout Team if you are not comfortable sharing your application.

Q: What are the expectations of Advisors in the peer feedback process?

A: If you are an Advisor, you are expected to be available to answer questions from semi-finalist teams and Scout Teams. These teams will receive your contact information and a description of your expertise, and may contact you if they feel your expertise would be beneficial for their project (mid-August - mid-October, 2021). You are expected to sign an NDA to protect the semi-finalists.

Q. Is there a fee to join the competition?

A: No, there is no fee.

Q: What is the timeline of the challenge?

A: See the full timeline in the Innovator’s Handbook. The first round application deadline was June 25, 2021, (11:59 PM EDT / GMT -4). Semi-finalists were notified in mid-August, 2021, and they are invited to prepare a second round application. Semi-finalists will be announced in early September. The second round application is due on October 13, 2021, 11:59 PM EDT. Finalists will be notified in December, 2021.

Q: How do I start the application?

A: The first round application deadline has passed. Semi-finalist teams were notified in August, 2021.

Eligibility

Q: Who can apply?

A: The lead author on an application must be the age of 18 years or older. Applications can come from anywhere in the world. However, please read the Terms and Conditions closely. United States law prohibits the exchange of services with, or payment of money to, individuals and entities in certain countries. To be eligible, a team must not include any individual or entity organized or with primary residence in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, or where otherwise prohibited by U.S. law (See http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/embargoed_countries/).

Q. Is my or my team’s innovation eligible for the Competition?

A: This Challenge seeks upstream innovations that are at a post-prototype stage of development.

Innovations must, at a minimum, have a working prototype (typically a Technology Readiness Level TRL 4 and above).

Innovations must clearly address one of the two challenge areas, which are upstream innovations to Replace and Prevent plastic microfiber pollution through materials, design, and manufacturing.

Innovations that are out of scope include innovations that are implemented downstream, for example, innovations that clean-up, measure, or filter microfibers from the environment. We recognize that these downstream innovations are also important, but this Challenge is focused solely on upstream innovations.

If you are uncertain about the eligibility of your innovation, send a short inquiry to microfibers@conservationxlabs.org (please do not send a pitch deck or your full application). CXL will not respond to inquiries from potential innovators on the quality of an innovation, nor will CXL indicate whether an innovation is likely to win prize money or not. CXL will only confirm if your innovation is within the scope of the Challenge.

Q. Are innovations for the dryer, washing machine, or wastewater that remove microfibers or mitigate the generation of microfibers eligible for the Competition?

A. If the innovation is used during a textile manufacturing process (pre-consumer) and results in less microfiber shedding or pollution, the innovation fits within the scope of the Challenge. In this Challenge, we are not considering microfiber removal innovations post-final product sale. For example - a filter in a home washing machine or dryer is considered downstream, and not within the scope of the Challenge.

The Prizes

Q: How many prizes will be awarded?

A: The Judges will make the final determination on the number and sizes of prizes. They will not award a monetary prize less than $50,000.

The Judges will award a total of $500,000 as a first tranche of prize money to a set of winners during the Solutions Fair and Awards Ceremony in February 2022.

CXL and partners will assess how innovators performed with the first tranche of funding, based on jointly established metrics, and work alongside our partners to determine which innovators merit additional support. CXL and its partners will use the remaining $150,000 to provide additional support to the best-performing innovators to get their product to market and have impact.

Q: How many semi-finalist teams are invited to prepare a second round application?

A: CXL announced the 26 semi-finalist teams in early September, 2021.

Q: How many finalist teams will be invited to compete in the final round?

A: CXL will announce the 12 finalist teams in December, 2021.

Evaluation

Q: Who evaluates the applications?

A: All eligible applications will be evaluated by external panels of expert Reviewers and Judges. Our panels include individuals with expertise across relevant disciplines, including (but not limited to) the fashion industry, textile and materials science, microfiber shedding and microplastic pollution, conservation science, biotechnology, and innovation & entrepreneurship. Some of the reviewers will come from our coalition of partners.

Q. What are the evaluation criteria?

A: The four criteria are:

  • Scalability: the innovation has growth potential due to its competitive advantage, demand / customer base, value proposition, and business model.
  • Feasibility: the innovation is feasible based on its technological, team, and financial merits.
  • Environmental impact: the innovation will make a significant contribution in advancing conservation efforts and not shift the environmental burden (e.g. land, water, and energy use).
  • Transformative: the innovation is revolutionary, novel, or questions fundamental assumptions in its approach.

Q. How is the second round application for semi-finalists evaluated?

A: Panels of Reviewers will review your pitch deck and the essay questions in your second round application. If you are a semi-finalist, the evaluation criteria and scoring rubric are visible in the second round application form in Submittable.

  • Scalability: Total of 20 points.
  • Feasibility: Total of 20 points.
  • Environmental impact: Total of 10 points.
  • Transformative: Total of 10 points. Click on THIS URL to see the 0 to 10 point scale for this criterion.

Q. Who has access to my application?

A: The Challenge administrators on the Open Innovation team at Conservation X Labs have access to all of the applications. External panels of Reviewers and Judges will have access to portions of your applications during their review process (some of the demographic responses will not be shared with Reviewers and Judges). Reviewers and Judges are asked to sign an NDA prior to evaluating applications.

If you are invited to complete the second round application, you may decide to open up the essay questions in your first round application to Scout Teams during a peer feedback round. In the peer feedback round, Scout Teams will review your application and provide you with written and oral constructive feedback. Members of Scout Teams will be asked to sign an NDA prior to accessing applications. See the FAQs for more information.

Additionally, CXL will curate key information from the applications and provide Challenge Partners (who have signed NDAs and may be interested in providing further support to the innovators) with summaries of the innovations submitted to the Challenge.

Q: Will applicants be able to review the summaries about our innovations before they are shared with the Challenge partners?

A: In the Demographic section of the first round application, there are questions marked with “+”, which means “Your responses to these questions will be shared with Challenge partners who have signed an NDA. Some of the partners in this Challenge are interested in supporting the scaling (growth) of innovations. We will not provide partners the full applications created by all of the applicants. Instead, CXL will curate key information from applications and provide partners with summaries of the innovations submitted to the Challenge."

To clarify, the Challenge administrators at Conservation X Labs (CXL) will curate information from your responses in this first section of the application labeled with “+” to create summaries of the innovations. This summary is intended to inform the partner representatives who may want to offer their assistance to help innovators grow (e.g. reach new markets, pilot, connect to investors, mentor, etc.). The CXL team will ask each applicant to approve the summary about their innovation before it is shared with our partners.

Q. We want to apply to the Challenge, but what if our team has a professional conflict of interest with one or more of the listed partners in the coalition?

A: If you have a professional conflict of interest with one or more of the partners listed as members of the coalition, please list these partners in your application (specifically in response to this question in the demographic section “What do you hope to get from the partners in this competition?)”

Conservation X Labs will not assign your application to reviewers from partner organizations if you have a conflict.

Q. Will my application be made public?

A: No, your full application will not be made public. All Reviewers and Judges will need to sign an NDA prior to the evaluation process in order to access your applications. Participants in the peer feedback round, including people on Scout Teams and Advisors, will need to sign an NDA.

Intellectual Property

Q. Do the applicants maintain ownership of their intellectual property in this Challenge?

A: From the Challenge Terms and Conditions: Applicants will retain all right, title and other ownership interests in Applicant Inventions and Applicant Copyrighted Works. Applicant will also retain all right, title and other ownership interests in Applicant’s submission and in all inventions, patents, patent applications, designs, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, software, source code, object code, processes, formulae, ideas, methods, know-how, techniques, devices, creative works, works of authorship, publications, and/or other intellectual property not included in the definition of Applicant Technology (“Intellectual Property”) developed by Applicant during the Challenge; subject to the media rights granted by the Applicant to CXL pursuant to the Media Rights Agreement section incorporated into this Agreement. See also a full definition of Inventorship in the Terms and Conditions.

The Application Questions

Q. How long should the pitch be in the second-round application and the final round application?

A: There are two pitches. Twenty-six semi-finalists will prepare a written pitch deck. Twelve Finalists will prepare a pitch deck to present to judges. In the second round application, we do not have a time limit for your pitch since semi-finalists will not verbally deliver the pitch deck.

Semi-finalists may put as much relevant information on the pitch slides as they see fit, preferably following the prompts in the pitch template that CXL provided. Semi-finalists can provide a written transcript of up to 500 words (per slide); 500 words per slide would come out to a very long verbal pitch, so the content should not be the same as what you would include in the verbal presentation of the pitch for the finalist round.

The twelve finalists will prepare and verbally deliver a 10-minute pitch presentation to the final judges. Thus, finalists will want to pare down the content of their pitch slides from the second round to the final round.

The twelve finalists will have access to pitch (presentation) coaching and practice sessions.

Q. What is meant by “stage of development” in the application questions?

A: ‘Stage of development’ refers to how far along you are in the creation and deployment of your innovation. Innovations must, at minimum, have a working prototype to be eligible for the challenge, typically Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 or above. The Technology Readiness Level is an index that estimates technical maturity across different types of technologies.

TRL 1 – Basic principles observed

TRL 2 – Technology concept formulated

TRL 3 – Experimental proof of concept (e.g. applied research, first lab test completed)

TRL 4 – Technology validated in lab (e.g. small scale prototype built in lab environment)

TRL 5 – Technology validated in intended environment

TRL 6 – Technology demonstrated in relevant environment and operating at close to expected performance.

TRL 7 – Demonstration system operating in intended environment at pre-commercial scale.

TRL 8 – First commercial system completed (e.g. your manufacturing issues are resolved)

TRL 9 – Full commercial system proven in operational environment (e.g. technology available for consumers)

For reference, see TRL in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_readiness_level

Q. In this essay question, “How does the design of your innovation consider the end of life? What steps have you taken to design for non-toxic biodegradation in natural environments (e.g. soil, oceans)? Describe the testing or data you already have, if available.”What is meant by “How does the design of your innovation consider the end of life?”

A. Describe how, if at all, your innovation is designed for circularity or a microplastic-free end of life. How does the design of the innovation impact what happens after it has been disposed of or no longer used for its intended purpose?

Q. What is meant by “...non-toxic biodegradation in natural environments (e.g. soil, oceans)?”

A: All products and materials break down over their lifetime. Natural biological degradation can occur in aquatic or soil systems. We are seeking innovations that degrade in the natural environment without requiring any additional inputs and without leaving behind any toxic constituents. Please describe the specific conditions under which your innovation degrades and provide any research or data you have to support this understanding.

Q. In this essay question,“How does the design of your innovation consider the end of life? What steps have you taken to design for non-toxic biodegradation in natural environments (e.g. soil, oceans)? Describe the testing or data you already have, if available.”What kinds of testing or data should be provided in the first round application?

A: Your applications may include proof of scientific, lab-based studies by a research team or a third-party testing laboratory. Testing data should include the viability of the performance of the innovation as well as any data on eco-toxicity or degradation to support the claims made in your application. You may include citations if the data is included in publications. Or, you may summarize the testing and findings, and include pertinent information like who, when, how, what, and where these data were collected or the tests were performed.

Q. In this essay question,“Please outline what is known about the life cycle of your innovation based on your current stage of development: from raw material sourcing, the methods and treatments used to create the product, to how and where the product is manufactured and distributed, to the product’s end of life (EOL).”What is meant by the “...life cycle of your innovation...”?

A: A product life cycle describes, quite simply, the entire ‘life’ of a product. It is typically broken down into stages that include: (1) extraction and production of raw materials; (2) product manufacturing (all parts); (3) product distribution; (4) consumer use; and (5) end of life (reuse, recycling, or landfill). Please describe each of the stages with as much detail as possible.

Additionally, we encourage designing products that are designed to last. Please also include details on the durability and typical lifespan of your product.

Q. What if we do not know the full life cycle because we are not yet manufacturing a product based on our innovation?

A: You are not expected to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment of your product in order to be eligible for this competition. Explain, to the best of your ability, what is known about the life cycle of your innovation and the impacts at various stages. What do you expect to be the largest sources of environmental impact of your product, and when do they occur (e.g. in the raw materials stage, production, distribution, end-of-life)?

In the first round application, it is okay to make assumptions when discussing your product’s impact at the different stages of its lifecycle. Do your best to explicitly state your assumptions and back up your claims with any available evidence from your own data or from reputable third-party sources. You may include citations of data.

Have a question not answered here?

Contact microfibers@conservationxlabs.org.