SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Last night, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced the Prototype and Student winner for the 2017 Imagine Blue Awards during a reception at Bluetooth World. The awards highlight the work and imaginations of creators, developers, and designers using Bluetooth technology to push the boundaries of wireless connectivity. Winners for this year’s awards represent forward-thinking inventions that have potential to change and improve how we live and interact with technology and one another.
“We are thrilled to shine a light on this year’s winners, whose innovative ideas promise solutions to real-world problems. From helping revolutionize the healthcare industry to helping locate victims during a disaster, Cassia and Bluejay are prime examples of how Bluetooth technology can impact and improve our lives,” said Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “The goal of Imagine Blue is to celebrate the stunning concepts and ideas of those that develop with our technology. All of our finalists showcased the versatility of Bluetooth with entries that ranged from Smart Home to Environmental Monitoring to the Industrial Internet of Things. Congratulations to our winners, finalists, and all who participated for continuing to use Bluetooth in ways we could have only imagined before.”
Prototype Winner: Cassia Networks, Inc., Telehealth Solution
Cassia Networks won for the company’s Telehealth Solution, which connects the Cassia Bluetooth router with smart medical equipment to create a more effective and automated IoT telehealth solution for at-home care. The Cassia Bluetooth router collects vital signs and other data from a Bluetooth medical device connected to the Cassia router and securely forwards it to a service provider’s cloud server. This enables remote patient monitoring in real-time, reducing costs to both patients and providers, while improving patient compliance and overall patient care.
“We found that 99 percent of smart medical devices use Bluetooth technology, so we created the Telehealth Solution to give patients a plug-and-play solution for in-home monitoring while giving healthcare providers an unprecedented ability to manage thousands of devices from one centralized interface,” said Felix Zhao, founder and CEO of Cassia Networks. “Our solution not only lowers complexity and cost for the provider, but improves care and makes life easier for the patient. We are honored to win this award and excited the SIG shares our vision in unlocking the potential of this technology.”
All Prototype finalists showcased their entry at Bluetooth World and, last night, presented their submission to the Imagine Blue judging panel – which included Mark Powell of the Bluetooth SIG, Stacey Higginbotham of Stacey Knows Things IoT Review, and Stuart Carlaw, Andrew Zignani, and Ryan Martin of ABI Research. The winner was selected based on the submission’s level of innovation, market potential, and overall impact the entry could have on the IoT industry.
As the overall winner of the Prototype category, Cassia Networks was presented with a $10,000 USD cash prize.
Student Winner: Sara Du, Bluejay
Bluejay is a mobile application to assist rescue workers in locating and communicating with victims after a natural disaster. Bluejay uses Bluetooth to connect to an Intel Edison module attached to a drone, and is intended for emergency responders to deploy in search and rescue operations. By harnessing the versatility of Bluetooth communication and the maneuverability of drones, more lives can be saved during a disaster. Communication is key to success in these types of situations, and Bluejay’s ability to maintain reliable connections between responders and those affected by disaster makes it a valuable Bluetooth implementation and makes Sara Du this year’s Imagine Blue student winner.
As the overall winner, Sara Du will be awarded a $5,000 USD cash prize. All the innovations of the Imagine Blue 2017 Student finalists are highlighted in a series of blogs on Bluetooth.com.
More details on the awards program and all of this year’s finalists can be found at https://www.bluetooth.com/news-events/awards.
About Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
Bluetooth is the global wireless standard for simple, secure connectivity. Propelled by a global community of more than 31,000 companies, Bluetooth serves to unify, harmonize, and drive innovation in the vast range of connected devices all around us. Through collective creation and shared technical standards, Bluetooth simplifies, secures and enriches the technology experience of users worldwide.
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