Apr 28, 2020 | IMV Inc., News, Spring Loaded Technology
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From producing protective equipment and hand sanitizer, to innovating medical technology, here’s how some Nova Scotia companies are changing the way they do business.
In response to COVID-19, IMV initiated the development of a vaccine. The company is currently in the preclinical development stage.
As innovation companies and health partners step up to collaborate on new products with Spring Loaded, current projects include the development of a face shield and transport hood.
Oct 5, 2018 | News, Spring Loaded Technology
Read full issue of LINK magazine here.
Spring Loaded Technology is one of many made-in-Nova Scotia companies with an innovative health technology that could cut costs and improve healthcare for the province but has yet to be formally covered through Nova Scotia’s healthcare. Guided by the input of hundreds of physiotherapists, orthopedic surgeons, and orthotists, the company was able to launch Levitation – the world’s first compact and powerful bionic knee brace – last year to a global market.
The Levitation knee brace uses liquid spring technology to store energy when the knee is bent and release it when the knee is straightened. For the wearer, the brace reduces the pressure on the knee, enhances stability, and prevents further damage to the joint.
“We’ve seen our product help patients in a wide variety of ways, including reducing pain, restoring strength and mobility, retaining independence and dignity, and even delaying or avoiding the need for surgery,” said Chris Cowper-Smith, CEO of Spring Loaded Technology.
A global preference for non-invasive treatments has been driving Spring Loaded’s sales across North America. The company has seen its market broaden from helping athletes recover from injuries to helping people with mobility issues, especially those living with osteoarthritis.
According to the Arthritis Society of Canada, osteoarthritis is a degenerative health issue affecting nearly five million Canadians. One of the most difficult challenges for those living with osteoarthritis is to remain active, to slow the degenerative process.
Spring Loaded has met this challenge by adapting the Levitation knee brace specifically for patients living with osteoarthritis. So now, the brace not only reduces pain and pressure across the whole knee, it also provides better support and alignment so that people can get back to being active.
Additionally, the Levitation knee brace allows people to buy time before needing surgery and may even prevent it altogether, as Jane Grover, a grandmother with osteoarthritis, can attest. Grover explains in a Spring Loaded corporate video that when she found out she needed a knee replacement surgery; she opted for a Levitation knee brace instead. Today she continues to enjoy an active lifestyle that includes keeping up with her grandchildren.
“The last thing I wanted was more surgery. I was going to try out one of the braces that Spring Loaded Technology makes because we have experience with my granddaughter having it. (She) was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and they’ve just been a miracle for her. I went and I got one and I already feel 20 years younger, and I really, really feel hopeful that I don’t have to go through the surgery for a long time,” said Grover.
Meanwhile, the number of Nova Scotians needing orthopedic surgeries is on the rise. Last year the Canadian Institute for Health Information released its annual report on wait times showing that Nova Scotians needing hip or knee replacements have the longest average wait time for patients in Canada.
The wait time crisis has been ongoing for years. In 2016 alone, over $8 million was invested in orthopedic surgeries in the province in an attempt to shorten the wait list.
Offering the Levitation knee brace in Nova Scotia could potentially have a large economic and health impact for the province, reducing future orthopedic surgery wait times.
“Our braces are enabling people to be more physically active, productive, and lead healthier lives than they could otherwise. The province should seriously consider a range of more costeffective solutions for treating knee pain and mobility impairments,” said Cowper-Smith.
In June of this year Spring Loaded Technology was awarded Nova Scotia’s 2018 Exporter of the Year award. This came on the coattails of a funding boost they received from Atlantic Canada Opportunity’s Agency to support their plans to expand their manufacturing capacity to keep up with demand and use customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning software to expand their reach.
Headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Spring Loaded Technology employs 30 people full time and plan to hire more as production increases. Spring Loaded Technology is proof of the success that can come from investing in life science, whether it is to create jobs, strengthen the economy, or change lives.]]>
Sep 19, 2018 | News, Spring Loaded Technology
Helping our customers overcome common mobility impairments, so they can live life to its fullest.
Spring Loaded’s purpose has guided the company’s decision-making from the beginning. It all started when the company’s three founders met at Dalhousie University and discovered that they shared experiences having worn standard knee braces at some point. These were great for providing stability but all three were frustrated that the braces did little to help with the mobility required to get back to work, to school, to athletics, and to everyday life. They decided there must be a better way and Spring Loaded’s idea – and its purpose – was born.
Staying motivated during R&D
During the hard slog of developing their initial spring-loaded brace, the Levitation, their purpose kept the team focused and motivated. It’s easy to get distracted with trendy features when you’re deep in the product development stage, but frequently returning to their purpose helped maintain their focus.
Using the Lean Startup methodology the team kept close to patients and clinicians to really understand their most important needs. As they did so they heard about the vital factors of individuality, dignity and quality of life. The engineering team ensured the brace technology they developed would help give people back their mobility and reduce pain, and indeed change their lives.
Strategy and measuring impact
Today Spring Loaded has grown into a medium-sized business with a significant export footprint outside of Atlantic Canada. Chris Cowper-Smith, CEO, attributes this success to sticking close to their purpose. It runs through Spring Loaded’s business strategy, how they attract customers, and how they measure their success. “Our internal company dashboard has ‘Number of lives changed’ not ‘Number of braces sold’”, says Cowper-Smith.
Hiring and keeping talent
Making sure their purpose is more than just words on a page has been key to attracting and keeping the talent that they need to grow. Employees are motivated by knowing that the work they do every day changes people’s lives: this shows in performance reviews and in casual chats at the office, and the company has a low turnover rate to prove it.
Spring Loaded’s cheeky tag-line “Making the world a better brace,” was the brain-child of a team member, and it’s stuck. They focus on hiring young talent who are often looking for meaningful careers. And it was an employee that nominated Spring Loaded for the Game Changer’s Award for Youth Employment in 2017.
Attracting investors with purpose
In their start-up years Spring Loaded couldn’t afford to hire and keep the talent they needed without investors, and the business was able to attract capital specifically because of their purpose. This includes impact investors like Ray Myzuka from ThresholdImpact who actively seeks investments that provide both excellent financial returns and excellent social returns to the world.
Cowper-Smith feels that all of their investors are motivated by more than profits. “Investors need to make a bunch of decisions each year about which companies they are going to invest in. If a product is going to make a difference for someone’s life and it has a potential to be massively scalable in the end, then that’s what they’re going to choose. We are seeing that investors are caring a lot more about that rather than some widget that might be nice to have but doesn’t really make a difference.”
There is always more to do to and Cowper-Smith says they are refining their mission, vision and values in preparation for a deeper roll out in strategy and HR processes.
Spring Loaded also recently launched a customer survey that will examine quality of life before and after using their knee brace, so the company can quantify and report on how their purpose is having an impact on people’s lives.