ATS BEAR Cage: 10 years of building education to advance research with innovation, competition, and fun

Beginning in 2014, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) launched the Building Education to Advance Research (BEAR) Cage competition, with the first in-person competition held in 2015. Organized and run by the ATS Drug/Device Discovery and Development Committee, the BEAR Cage competition is structured as a " pitch competition" where early career investigators submit streamlined proposals for out-of-the-box and potentially transformative ideas, and the 3 top proposals are invited to attend the ATS International Conference to pitch their ideas and compete for cash prizes. Over the first 10 years of its existence, the BEAR Cage has not only grown as a venue for some of the most exciting and creative ideas at the ATS conference, it has also shown itself to be associated with future success, with BEAR Cage finalists emerging as leaders across the pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine enterprise. In this Perspective, we provide an overview of the ATS BEAR Cage's first 10 years and offer thoughts on the continued importance of the BEAR Cage as a place for innovation, competition, and fun to coexist.