AAPM Innovation Ecosystem

We believe innovation and technology are key to advancing healthcare, improving outcomes, and progressing pain medicine. The AAPM Innovation Ecosystem is a community of clinicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, investors, and scientists fostering innovation, building relationships, and supporting startups to push the field forward. As pain medicine rapidly evolves, our Ecosystem aims to lead discussions on effective, innovative treatments.

About the Innovation Challenge

The Innovation Challenge invites innovators worldwide, from pre-seed to Series A companies, to present revolutionary solutions in fields like pain management, nutrition, and sleep medicine. This annual “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition, hosted by the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) in collaboration with MIT Hacking Medicine, aims to improve the lives of individuals living with pain. The pitch competition is held during the Academy's annual meeting, PainConnect.

Finalists will pitch their ideas to an audience of patients, providers, and industry leaders, competing for prizes, mentorship, and valuable exposure.  The AAPM + MIT Hacking Pain Innovation Challenge annual pitch competition is not possible without the support of our sponsors.  Tonix Medicines, Vertex, and Enable Health.

More about the challenge

SUBMIT YOUR PITCH OCTOBER 7TH

Past Innovation Challenge Sponsors

2026 Hacking Pain Hack-a-thon

Hacking Pain is PainConnect’s global hack-a-thon, held alongside PainConnect, our annual meeting. Over the course of this dynamic three-day event, innovators from healthcare, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, and patient advocacy come together to craft practical solutions that address real challenges in pain care.

What Makes It Unique

• Cross-disciplinary Teams: Participants—from students to seasoned professionals, form agile, diverse groups that bring fresh perspectives to pain management issues.
• Mentorship at Every Step: Throughout the hackathon, teams benefit from clinical and industry mentors, who help them refine their ideas, test their viability, and sharpen their presentations.
• High‑Impact Presentations: Finalists present their innovations to a panel of judges, including patients, providers, and industry leaders. Top projects may even be showcased at PainConnect’s Innovation Challenge, presented by AAPM and MIT Hacking Medicine.

The 2026 focus was "Tracking Outcomes in Chronic Pain Care," and it asked, "How do we meet patients where they are?" People living with chronic pain are often denied essential treatments when insurers label care as “experimental.” To overcome this, we need scalable, affordable outcome-tracking tools that truly capture the impact of pain interventions and preserve patient access to care.

Why It Matters

• Real-World Impact: Solutions born here aim to improve patient care and expand access to equitable pain management.
• Networking & Growth: An unmatched opportunity to connect with clinicians, innovators, investors, and thought leaders in pain medicine innovation.