SBRI Healthcare has awarded £4.2 million to five pioneering medtech innovations in the fields of musculoskeletal disorders (MSK) and oral health. The funding will be used to fast-track these technologies through the next stages of commercialisation, including the development of prototypes or demonstration units.
These projects were among thirteen that were initially identified for phase 1 funding in 2019, and will now benefit from a second round of funding to demonstrate both technical and commercial viability.
The successful projects range from AI-based smartphone apps and virtual reality programmes, to technologies designed to improve the diagnosis of oral cancers.
The projects were identified through a SBRI Healthcare competition that called for innovative technologies designed to solve existing problems in MSK and oral health.
Funding was awarded to the following projects:
Musculoskeletal Disorders
Good Boost Wellbeing Ltd – awarded £665,059: Good Boost transforms public swimming pools into therapeutic spaces for MSK conditions, achieved through AI-powered rehabilitation software delivered on waterproof tablet computers. Participants are supported to follow an individually-tailored program that adapts and evolves over time using participant exercise feedback.
getUBetter Ltd – awarded £860,897: getUBetter provide self-management and prevention technology for musculoskeletal conditions and occupational health. Organisations integrate getUBetter so that patients can be linked via an app to their local self-management pathways by clinicians, support staff or independently from GP websites 24/7.
Mogrify Ltd – awarded £881,397: Mogrify™ has developed a proprietary direct cellular conversion technology and is leveraging this technology in order to create a scalable supply of allogeneic chondrocytes for use in regeneration of the joints in cartilage defects and osteoarthritis.
VirtiHealth Ltd – awarded £856,754: Virti is an immersive education platform that transports users into realistic environments using VR and AR and analyses their performance to improve outcomes while collecting outcome data. The system is used for both patient education and health professional training.
Dentistry, oral health and oral cancers
Zilico Ltd – awarded £961,340: The grant will support the development of our Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) technology for use on the oral epithelium in a unique device to improve the speed and accuracy of oral pre-cancer and cancer diagnosis.