First prize goes to London-based Guilem Singla Buxarrais and Dimitris Athanasiou, co-founders of Neurofenix, for their device aimed at helping stroke survivors.
Little over a year ago, the Inventor Prize was launched as part of the Industrial Strategy, in order to find Britain’s grassroots and garden shed inventors. Today innovation foundation Nesta, supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), is announcing three overall winners, from their ten shortlisted finalists. The winners will receive £50,000, £15,000 and £5,000 respectively, to help get their product to market.
Nawar Al-Zebari of Cambridge-based Urologic received the £15,000 second prize for his NuCath catheter device. The catheter uses smart materials to replace the standard Foley catheter whose design has barely changed since it was first developed in the 1930s. Infections from standard catheters affect 500,000 people every year in the UK and are estimated to cost the NHS around £2 billion annually. The NuCath device is easier to use and could reduce infections by up to 50%, meaning a huge potential saving to the NHS.
On hearing they’d won second prize, Urologic’s Nawar Al-Zebari stated: “We are delighted to have won second place in this fantastic prize - which has provided us invaluable financial and professional support, through mentoring.
“When one of my family members was undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment for cancer and had a low immune system, their catheter became infected and they then had to fight the infection, making recovery even more difficult. After doing more research into the problem, I realised this was widespread and that the design and material of catheters has remained relatively unchanged for 90 years since its invention. As a materials scientist, working on smart materials, I thought there must be a suitable application for its use in catheters.
"UroLogic aims to produce a new self-activating catheter design based on smart materials, allowing better drainage and ensuring a smaller likelihood of infections and encrustations.”
The overall winners have been selected as Guilem Singla Buxarrais and Dimitris Athanasiou, co-founders of Neurofenix, who invented the Neuroball which encourages stroke survivors to engage in rehabilitation exercises through competitive and collaborative training. The device allows stroke survivors to perform exercises to improve dexterity in the hand and arm. The Neuroball connects to an online platform, allowing users to play games of increasing complexity throughout the recovery process. Buxarrais and Athanasiou were driven to develop the device after they both experienced stroke within their families. There are 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK, with around 100,000 strokes occurring every year. However, stroke survivors do not receive adequate rehabilitation care, with many existing exercises feeling repetitive and monotonous. By offering a series of online games for stroke survivors to play during their rehabilitation, the device keeps users engaged in their training leading to better results.
Ed Rogers from Bristol Braille received the £5,000 third prize for the Canute 360 Braille e-reader. Unlike existing Braille readers, the Canute device offers a multi-line display, meaning it can be used to read mathematical formulas and tables in textbooks, as well as musical scores. Books can be added by SD cards or USB, essentially making it a Kindle for Braille users.
The Inventor Prize was launched in August 2017 after first being announced in the Industrial Strategy Green Paper in January 2017. Since then it has uncovered ten stand-out ideas that could transform the lives of people throughout the UK, ranging from a 3D-printed prosthetic arm for babies and toddlers to a smart gumshield that could save athletes’ lives. Each finalist received £5,000 and bespoke mentoring from Barclays Eagle Labs to develop their ideas further. The winners were seen to have progressed the most and now have viable products to bring to market.
Business secretary Greg Clark congratulated the three winning inventors, saying: “UroLogic’s new device has the potential to eliminate hundreds of thousands of infections, potentially transforming lives up and down the country, and it’s great to see them being recognised through the Inventor Prize.
“This is our modern Industrial Strategy in action, building an environment in which the UK’s world-beating entrepreneurs and innovators can go from strength to strength, with the brightest ideas of today turning into the leading products of tomorrow.”
Constance Agyeman, Head of International Development and Communities, at Nesta commented: “We know that Challenge Prizes are an effective catalyst to stimulating innovation and fast tracking success. And we’ve certainly witnessed our ten shortlisted finalists going on incredible journeys as they turn their dreams into reality - with financial support and professional mentoring helping them develop their prototypes, source invaluable partners and suppliers and create business plans. We now hope all our entrants have been given the confidence and expertise they need to turn their ideas into real products and that they too continue their journeys. But we are especially excited to support our 3 overall winners in getting their products into the hands of consumers”.
Steven Roberts, Chief Scientific Adviser, Barclays UK Ventures, commented: “Our growing network of vibrant Eagle Labs across the UK are helping Britain's SMEs collaborate and grow. With the rapid pace of digital and technological change, we're determined to help inventors turn their ideas into reality, in turn solving societal challenges and boosting the UK's economy. It's been a real pleasure for all our mentors to support these fantastic inventors on this journey and we look forward to working with the winners in our Labs to help transform their inventions into thriving new businesses.”
Image: Nawar Al-Zebari, Jhon Nuqu and Nikita Greenidge of UroLogic, inventors of the NuCath.
Read more about Urologic and Nucath
About Nesta
Nesta is a global innovation foundation. We back new ideas to tackle the big challenges of our time, making use of our knowledge, networks, funding and skills. We work in partnership with others, including governments, businesses and charities. We are a UK charity that works all over the world, supported by a financial endowment. To find out more visit www.nesta.org.uk
Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833.