Neuro Rehab VR Selected as a 2022 National Innovation Challenge Awardee for Readiness
Neuro Rehab VR wins 2022 National Innovation Challenge Award for Readiness
Neuro Rehab VR was selected from a field of over 800 applicants and 18 finalists to win the National Innovation Challenge Award for Readiness at the 2022 Defense TechConnect Innovation and Summit Expo held near Washington, D.C. The prize, given to the top 5 companies in the Readiness category, includes $10,000 in non-dilutive funding, an invitation to a business consortium to work with leaders from federal agencies and providers and access to more than $50 billion in prototype-level contracting authority for government customers.
When asked about her win, CEO Veena Somareddy said, "I knew from our success in the commercial market that the XR Therapy System has real impact on real lives. Winning this award confirmed for me and my team that we are well positioned to expand that track record of success to serve our government and veteran partners as well."
Musculoskeletal injury (MSKI) is a significant contributor to the Army’s healthcare burden, negatively impacting Soldier health and Army Readiness. In 2018, approximately 1,670 new injuries were diagnosed per 1,000 person-years, with 53% of Soldiers reporting new injuries annually. Of these injuries, 71% were cumulative micro-traumatic musculoskeletal “overuse” injuries, which are generally preventable. MSKI injuries annually accounted for approximately $557 million in acute patient care, plus considerable opportunity costs due to lost duty days, non-availability for deployment, and disability payments. A 10% reduction in Soldiers' MSKIs would improve mission capability by adding a full Brigade Combat Team (BCT) to the battlefield. A 1% reduction in the non-availability rate is equivalent to adding a battalion-sized ready force, and $30 million in cost avoidance in non-mission capable assets.
Companies invited to compete at the Defense TechConnect Innovation and Summit Expo, the nation's largest annual gathering of non-traditional, dual-use emerging technologies aligned with government priority requirements, presented their products in a “Shark Tank” style pitch event with eight minutes to convey their ideas and best in class technology to industry and government leadership.
Neuro Rehab VR competed with several innovative organizations in this challenge focusing on areas including modeling, simulation and training, including gaming technologies, synthetic environments, human immersion, AR/VR, medical MS&T, data analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, complex-domain systems, and experimentation and validation.
