SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--XPRIZE, the global leader in incentivized prize competition, today awarded DMI (DNA Medicine Institute) the $525,000 Grand Prize in the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, a competition to catalyze breakthrough medical sensing technologies that will ultimately enable faster diagnoses and easier personal health monitoring. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based medical technology incubator and laboratory led by Founder and CEO Eugene Y. Chan, M.D., has developed the Reusable Handheld Electrolyte and Lab Technology for Humans (“rHEALTH”) system, a compact portable device that can run hundreds of clinical lab tests on a single drop of blood with gold standard accuracy, telling the user within minutes if they have a cold, the flu or a more serious ailment such as pneumonia — or even Ebola — that requires more urgent medical care.
“We are truly honored to be recognized as the Grand Prize winner in the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE,” said Dr. Chan. “To be selected from such an impressive group of worthy competitors is extremely humbling. Our hope is that the rHEALTH system, once commercialized, will enable consumers to monitor their own health while on-the-go in a more efficient manner and alert them of more serious medical concerns almost immediately.”
In addition to the Grand Prize, five Distinguished Award Prizes, each valued at $120,000, were presented to Biovotion (Zurich, Switzerland), Golden Gopher Magnetic Biosensing (Minneapolis, Minn.), Eigen Lifescience (Stanford, Calif.), GUES (London, England) and Endotronix Wireless Health Monitoring (Woodridge, Ill.). The winners will be announced at the Exponential Medicine Conference in San Diego today.
“Our expert judging panel reviewed a very exciting group of sensing technologies, all with the potential to address a wide array of diagnostic and personal health needs,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, chairman and CEO, XPRIZE. “DMI’s rHEALTH system embodies the original goal of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE — to advance sensor technology in a way that will enable faster diagnoses and easier, more sophisticated personal health monitoring.”
DMI was selected from 11 finalist teams and received the highest combined score in accuracy, consistency, demonstration quality, technical innovation, human factors, market opportunity, originality and user experience. All finalists demonstrated the sensing capabilities of their devices in front of a judging panel comprised of digital health and medical industry experts.
“Congratulations to DMI and all of the teams who competed in the second Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE competition,” said Henry Tirri, executive vice president, Nokia. “The innovative technologies created by the teams demonstrate the potential for sensors to transform healthcare in myriad of areas, from early diagnosis all the way to disease management. We’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to help bring these important advancements to fruition.”
This is the second of two consecutive Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE competitions. In October 2013, the Grand Prize for the first competition was awarded to Nanobiosym Health RADAR, a Boston-based research institute led by Dr. Anita Goel, for their Gene-RADAR platform, which can detect various diseases in less than an hour by placing a drop of fluid on a nanochip, then inserting into a mobile device.
DMI is also a finalist team for the $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, a global competition to develop a consumer-focused, mobile device capable of diagnosing and interpreting a set of 15 medical conditions and capturing five vital health metrics, much like the medical Tricorder of Star Trek® fame. As part of this, they will compete in both diagnostic experience evaluations and consumer testing, slated for mid 2015. The final judging and awards ceremony will take place in early 2016.
For more information, visit: http://sensing.xprize.org/.
About XPRIZE
Founded in 1995, XPRIZE is the leading organization solving the world’s Grand Challenges by creating and managing large-scale, high-profile, incentivized prizes in five areas: Learning; Exploration; Energy & Environment; Global Development; and Life Sciences. Active prizes include the $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE, the $15M Global Learning XPRIZE, the $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, the $2.25M Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE and the $2M Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE. For more information, visit www.xprize.org.
About Nokia
Nokia invests in technologies important in a world where billions of devices are connected. We are focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware and services, which we offer through Nokia Networks; location intelligence, which we provide through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which we pursue through Nokia Technologies. Each of these businesses is a leader in its respective field. For more information, visit http://company.nokia.com.
Qualcomm is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries.
STAR TREK, TRICORDER and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. Used under license.
