Innovation Cup 2022 – Great minds come together

Innovation Cup 2022 – Great minds come together
The 2022 Innovation Cup in its 12th year, brings together a promising new generation of academic talents from life sciences, material sciences, data sciences and business administration with the company’s senior management, researchers and accomplished retirees. This meeting of the minds is a creative and innovative platform aimed at advancing science and technology.

What’s in it for me?

If you are a post-graduate student with an interest in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, the Innovation Cup is your chance to gain in-depth knowledge about pharmaceutical and chemical research and development, to network with top students from around the world and to build a business case together with experienced professionals.

Explore job opportunities at our company and visit the innovation summer camp near Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 23. - 29. July, 2022 and take your chance to win the Innovation Cup along with EUR 20,000 with your team (EUR 5,000 for the runner-up team).

Options to implement the best business plans will be evaluated. Top performing participants might be offered a position at Merck.

All travel, accommodation and food expenses will be paid by Merck. Please understand, that due to the current situation, the prerequisite to attend the Innovation Cup is having digital proof of being vaccinated or recovered (2G rule) and this will be enforced.

Who can apply:

We invite advanced students in life sciences, chemistry, physics, computer sciences and business administration from all over the world to apply for participation in the Innovation Cup. Up to 50 students will be selected:

• Sciences: Postgraduate students in the life, material and data sciences, on their way towards a PhD in biology, chemistry, medicine, physics, biotech, bioinformatics, biochemistry, pharmacy, informatics, computer science, data science, engineering or related fields. Also Post Docs can apply!
• Business: Advanced MBA students or recent MBA graduates with an interest in the pharmaceutical business and a life science background.

The cup is not open to healthcare professionals.

How it works:

During a one-week Summer Camp, 50 selected postgraduate students will attend in-depth presentations about the pharmaceutical and chemical industry given by our management, scientists and external experts. Participants will work in small teams to generate an innovative idea that addresses a scientific challenge and develop the idea into a business plan.

• The team oncology will work on new innovative approaches for the targeted treatment of cancer with small molecules or proteins.
• The team immuno-oncology will work on new innovative approaches for the treatment of cancer via stimulating the immune system and overcoming the immunosuppressive environment of tumors.
• The team autoimmunity will work on new innovative approaches for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as e.g. Lupus.
• The team drug discovery technologies will work on new innovative approaches to discover and optimize new small molecular drugs or to design, screen or optimize new protein drugs as well as how new biological techniques, data science and automation can help to uncover new drug discovery targets or first in class drug candidates
• The team digitalization will work on innovative in-silico approaches for drug discovery or the exploration of the chemical space, on new machine learning and AI algorithms, neuromorphic systems or quantum computing.
• The team connected health will work on new innovative approaches on novel devices for drug administration and connected and mobile solutions for remote patient monitoring
• The team anti-aging will work on new innovative approaches to interfere with general hallmarks of aging and make aging druggable resulting in increased health span
• Teams will receive coaching and guidance from experienced veterans of our company, the Summer Camp moderator and our Innovation Management. You will learn the essentials about R&D within the pharmaceutical and chemical industry and understand how products are successfully discovered, developed and brought to market. You will learn to evaluate your ideas from a technical and business perspective and build a convincing business plan.

The teams will present their business plans to a grand jury. The jury will be composed of our top management plus external consultants. The jury will select the best business plan and present the winning team with the Innovation Cup award and cash prize of EUR 20,000 plus EUR 5,000 for the runner-up. At the first day of the Innovation Cup a conference with alumni from previous events will be organized with ample networking opportunities. Options to implement the best business plans will be evaluated. Top performing participants might be offered a position at Merck.

Further information about the program and how to apply online from November 1st 2021 until January 31st 2022:

How do I apply?

Please only send your application (motivational letter, CV including publication list) through the webpage below and then select the specific team of your choice to apply for.

Location:

Near Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 23. - 29. July, 2022.
Travel, accommodation and food expenses will be paid by the company.