Raman spectroscopy is a scientific method that identifies materials by measuring how light interacts with molecules. A laser shines on a sample, and most of the light scatters without change while a small amount shifts in energy because of molecular vibrations. Specialized detectors record the scattered light and create a spectrum that acts like a chemical fingerprint for the material.

Scientists use the spectrum to study composition, purity, and molecular structure in solids, liquids, and gases. Artificial intelligence improves spectral analysis by comparing complex patterns with large collections of reference data and recognizing subtle differences with high speed and accuracy. Advanced computer models help researchers identify unknown substances, monitor manufacturing quality, and support faster scientific decisions.

Raman spectroscopy is powerful because it can rapidly identify the unique molecular fingerprint of a material, allowing fast, accurate analysis across medical, industrial, defense, environmental, and consumer applications. The following examples highlight how Raman spectroscopy can support a wide range of real world use cases:

Surface Enhanced Raman Substrate (SERS) chips improve signal detection by amplifying molecular signatures on nanoscale metallic structures. The five chips included in each developer kit are particularly useful for detecting low-concentration substances.

Building on the science of Raman spectroscopy, the Blaise® Raman spectrometer brings laboratory level chemical detection into a device small enough to fit in a pocket. Blaise differs from many commercial Raman systems because the platform combines artificial intelligence, and low cost hardware in a unit that weighs less than 30 grams and costs under $800 USD. Most competing spectrometers are large, bulky, and can cost between $10,000 USD and $300,000 USD, and often require advanced training in chemistry to use them.

The Blaise XTECH Competition is a global challenge aimed at developing AI-powered mobile applications that integrate with Blaise, an AI-driven Raman spectrometer for disease detection, aviation fuel analysis, and environmental monitoring. The competition seeks to foster innovation in machine learning, spectroscopy, and mobile computing.

The competition is open to:

Yes! The Blaise XTECH Competition is open to teams worldwide. However, teams may be required to comply with export control laws and local regulations regarding AI, spectroscopy, and healthcare applications.

The competition is structured into five phases:

Phase I begins on August 1, 2026. Applicants receive three months to submit a pitch template and a video presentation.

Top 10 applicants receive a $5,000 cash prize, free Blaise devices, and software development tools. Remaining finalists receive an invitation into Phase II and pay $500 registration fee to continue.

Judges select 100 ideas to advance into Phase II. Forward Edge-AI expects a judging period of one to three months based on total submissions.

Phase II begins after all 100 Blaise devices reach selected applicants. Forward Edge-AI expects shipping completion about one month after Phase I ends.

Applicants develop working prototypes during a four month development window. Prototype submissions enter Apple TestFlight or Google Closed Test for review and verification.

Phase II is by invitation only.

Invited applicants must also invite Forward Edge AI into pre-release testing programs for application review. Submission processing may require up to two months.

Forward Edge-AI expects about three days for each prototype review. Rolling reviews and concurrent testing support a total verification period of about 30 to 45 days.

Forward Edge AI selects 10 semifinalists to advance into Phase III finals.

Five finalists are selected to perform live demonstrations before final judges. Judges select one grand prize winner and two runner up winners.

Finalists will present at an international consumer technology conference, either the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Las Vegas, USA, or Intersec Safety and Security Show in Dubai. Five independent judges compare all finalist apps. The final venue will be announced in Phase III.

All 100 original applicants remain eligible for the People’s Choice award. User ratings in Apple and Google app stores determine the winning application one year after Phase IV ends.

Forward Edge-AI awards a $50,000 cash prize to the highest rated eligible application based on verified user reviews and ratings. One prize is awarded to the top rated Apple Appstore application, and one prize is awarded to the top rated Google Playstore application.

To register, visit the competition website, complete the team registration form, and submit your initial proposal outlining your application concept and intended use of Blaise technology.

There is no registration fee for phases I and V. The registration fee is waived for the top 10 pitch ideas selected by Forward Edge-AI.

The following one time registration fee is required for the remaining 90 teams invited to compete in Phases II through IV:

Discounts or fee waivers may be available for academic institutions, non-profits, and early-stage startups.

You can register as an individual; however, we strongly encourage forming a team with diverse technical and scientific expertise to enhance your chances of success.

Yes.

Participants must follow all competition rules, platform policies, and applicable laws. Fraud, plagiarism, unsafe content, or false claims will result in disqualification if detected. Forward Edge-AI reserves the sole right to make this determination. Violators will have no recourse.

Phase I is judged based on the Innovation & Technological Advancement and Market Viability & Commercialization Potential as determined by Forward Edge-AI.

For Phases II through IV, Teams will be scored based on the following criteria:

Data quality carries the highest weight because spectroscopic datasets are a primary purpose of the competition, as disclosed in Section 2.

Phase V is based on Apple and/or Google store app reviews.

Phase I recognizes the 100 most promising concepts. Ten of the 100 winning team receives five thousand dollars ($5,000), for a total Idea Award pool of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

Forward Edge-AI's role during the verification and validation stage is expressly limited to the following areas:

Competitors are solely responsible for all testing, verification, and validation of efficacy, accuracy, safety, and clinical performance beyond the scope described above.

Forward Edge-AI, Inc. will operate a Pre-Order Portal on the official Blaise XTECH Competition website. Each competing team may publish a product listing on the portal during Phase III. The listing allows real consumers to pre-order the team's app before it has been approved by Apple or Google.

When a consumer pre-orders through the portal, the $2.99 fee is split as follows:

Each team that publishes a listing receives a unique Promotion Code. The team may share the code on its own website or social media channels. Consumers who use the code after the team's app is approved by Apple or Google will receive a discount on the final purchase price.

Participation in the portal is voluntary. However, a team that chooses not to participate will receive zero pre-order points on the Market Viability criterion. Opting out does not affect any other part of the team's score.

Escrow funds attributed to a competing team will be released after the team's app receives formal approval and becomes available for download on the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, or both. Forward Edge-AI, Inc. will process the release within a commercially reasonable time following confirmation of approval.

Pre-order funds will not be released if any of the following occur:

In the event that funds are not released, Forward Edge-AI, Inc. may retain the forfeited amounts or refund consumers at its sole discretion. A competing team has no right to forfeited Pre-Order Funds.

At the close of Phase III, Forward Edge-AI, Inc. will count the total confirmed pre-orders for each team and award pre-order points based on relative ranking. Pre-order points are added to each team's Phase III total score.

The pre-order scoring table is:

Pre-order points are an additive component of the Phase III score. A team that does not publish a portal listing, or that publishes one but receives no pre-orders, earns zero pre-order points. All other Phase III judging criteria are scored independently.

If two or more teams are tied in pre-order volume for the same rank, each tied team receives the higher rank's points. The next lower rank is skipped. For example, two teams tied for first place both receive 15 points and no team receives 10 points.

Forward Edge-AI, Inc.'s determination of pre-order totals and resulting point assignments is final and binding on all competitors.

A high-quality Graphical User Interface prioritizes intuitive navigation, functional visual hierarchy, and seamless responsiveness to provide a frustration-free experience for all end users. The Graphical User Interface assessment evaluates three dimensions: how the application looks, how easy the application is to use, and how efficiently the application responds to user interactions.

No. Forward Edge-AI does not certify, validate, or represent the clinical efficacy, diagnostic accuracy, scientific validity, or regulatory compliance of any Licensed Application. Verification by Forward Edge-AI during the competition confirms only the five criteria identified above and does not constitute any endorsement or certification of the application's performance in clinical, commercial, or regulatory contexts.

The total prize pool is one million dollars ($1,000,000), distributed as follows: fifty thousand dollars in Idea Awards, eight hundred fifty thousand dollars in Final Competition Awards, and one hundred thousand dollars in App Store Innovation Awards.

All prize-winning teams may receive post-competition support, including:

Each developer kit includes:

Teams have access to:

No. Each competitor is solely responsible for all costs incurred in connection with the competition. Forward Edge-AI, Inc. will not reimburse competitors for any expense, regardless of the category, amount, or outcome of the competition.

Costs that competitors are responsible for include, but are not limited to, the following:

Forward Edge-AI, Inc. may, at its sole discretion, agree in writing to reimburse a specific expense in a separate, signed instrument executed by an authorized officer of Forward Edge-AI, Inc. No verbal agreement, email, or informal communication creates a reimbursement obligation. Any exception must be documented in a specific instrument before the expense is incurred.

Reimbursement rights, if any, do not survive a competitor's voluntary withdrawal, disqualification, or the cancellation of any competition phase. A competitor who withdraws or is disqualified after incurring costs retains no claim for reimbursement of those costs.

Applicants keep ownership of original intellectual property. Licensing terms grant Forward Edge-AI limited rights needed for judging, testing, promotion, and competition operations. See Licensing Agreement for more details.

Following public release to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, a licensed application must generate a minimum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) in annual gross revenue during each twelve-month measurement period. If an application fails to meet this threshold, the license reverts to Forward Edge-AI, Inc. after a ninety-day cure period. The purpose of this restriction is to prevent speculators from purchasing licenses from awardee in order to restrict future competition.

Full details are provided in Section 10 of the Licensing Agreement.

Applicants grant permission for Forward Edge-AI to review, test, display, and promote submitted materials connected to competition activities. Applicants expressly grant Forward Edge-AI the right to use data generated to generalize the Blaise Artificial Intelligence.

The license granted under the Blaise XTECH Competition Licensing Agreement reverts automatically to Forward Edge-AI, Inc. upon the occurrence of any of the following three events:

License reversion is automatic and takes effect immediately upon the occurrence of any triggering event. Reversion requires no additional action by either party and transfers all commercialization rights, including the right to distribute, modify, sub-license, and monetize the Licensed Application, exclusively to Forward Edge-AI, Inc.

Forward Edge-AI's determination of disqualification is final and binding. Disqualified competitors have no recourse against the disqualification determination, and disqualification does not limit Forward Edge-AI's right to pursue any additional remedies available under the Licensing Agreement or applicable law.

Forward Edge-AI's unlimited data license, granted under Section 2.4 of the Licensing Agreement, is independent of and entirely unaffected by license reversion.

Spectroscopic data and datasets submitted prior to withdrawal, abandonment, or disqualification remain licensed to Forward Edge-AI, Inc. on a perpetual, irrevocable, and unlimited basis regardless of the circumstances of a competitor's exit from the competition.

Yes. Forward Edge-AI, Inc. is actively developing its own applications for the Blaise platform. Forward Edge-AI discloses this fact transparently so that all competitors are fully informed before submitting ideas or accepting the terms of the Licensing Agreement.

To prevent any possibility of intellectual property leakage, Forward Edge-AI operates its internal Blaise application development team under strict structural isolation from all competition activities. The following safeguards are in place:

Forward Edge-AI is committed to maintaining the integrity of the competition and the confidence of every participating team. The isolation framework described above is designed to ensure that the competitive standing of all participants is protected and that no competitor's original ideas or methods are exposed to Forward Edge-AI's own development activities.

Yes. Teams must adhere to the Licensing Agreement, which includes the following key restrictions:

Applicants may use existing technology if legal ownership and licensing rights remain clear. Competition submissions must comply with all intellectual property laws and third party license requirements.

All participants must submit applications to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and must accept and comply with the current terms and conditions and developer agreements of each respective platform. For medically related applications, participants must additionally comply with the health and medical app-specific requirements of both platforms. Full details are provided in the Blaise XTECH Competition Licensing Agreement.

Yes. By submitting a pitch template, concept video, demonstration footage, slide deck, or any other material in connection with the Blaise XTECH Competition, each competitor grants Forward Edge-AI, Inc. a perpetual, royalty-free, and unlimited license to use those materials for marketing and promotional purposes. The grant is automatic and takes effect at the moment of submission.

Forward Edge-AI, Inc. may exercise the following rights without seeking the competitor's prior approval, requesting edits, or obtaining any additional consent from the submitting team:

Forward Edge-AI, Inc. retains sole discretion over the manner, timing, format, platform, and context in which submitted materials are used for promotional purposes. Attribution to the submitting team may be provided at Forward Edge-AI's discretion but is not required.

The promotional license is perpetual and survives the conclusion of the competition, the termination of the Licensing Agreement, and any reversion of the commercialization license. Forward Edge-AI, Inc. retains all promotional rights in materials submitted prior to a competitor's withdrawal, abandonment, or disqualification, regardless of the circumstances of that exit.

Full terms governing the marketing and promotional use of competition materials are set forth in Section 3.6 of the Blaise XTECH Competition Licensing Agreement. A plain-language notice of the promotional license is also included at the bottom of the official Pitch Template.

A key purpose of the competition is commercialization of the technology. Final products must be distributed through the Apple or Google stores. Competitors are solely responsible for complying with Apple or Google store policies and submitting the software application and obtaining approval.

Each participating team is solely responsible for identifying, funding, and obtaining all approvals from government regulatory agencies, licensing authorities, and certification bodies applicable to the development, testing, and commercial distribution of the Licensed Application. All costs associated with such approvals are entirely the team's obligation. Forward Edge-AI, Inc. bears no responsibility for regulatory costs, delays, or outcomes of any kind.

Any team developing a medically related application, including applications intended for clinical use, diagnostic support, patient monitoring, or medical device integration, bears full responsibility for obtaining all required medical device approvals and regulatory clearances. Required approvals may include FDA premarket clearance or approval, CE marking, or equivalent international certifications. All such costs are the sole responsibility of the competing team. Forward Edge-AI does not fund, facilitate, or assist in obtaining regulatory approvals of any kind.

Yes. Entering the competition and executing the Blaise XTECH Competition Licensing Agreement constitutes each team's binding acknowledgment of sole responsibility for all regulatory costs, compliance obligations, and approval processes. Acceptance of the Agreement is conclusive and irrevocable. The full legal terms are set forth in Sections 9.5 and 9.6 of the Licensing Agreement.