Mar 27, 2018 | Axem Neurotechnology Inc., News
See original article here
Halifax-based Axem Neurotechnology is attending the HAX Accelerator in Shenzhen, China, where it plans to complete the prototype of its device, which enhances mental training for athletes.
The company’s co-founders, Tony Ingram and Chris Friesen, are now at Hax, the world’s largest hardware accelerator, as they prepare to begin beta-testing in Canada.
The two PhD students in neuroscience from Dalhousie University are building a wearable device that measures brain activity to help athletes improve the mental aspects of their game.
“We’re also exploring the rehabilitation market,” Ingram, the CEO of Axem, said in an interview. “We think it would provide a lot of value, like for stroke rehab and many other types of rehab, mostly neurological because we measure the brain.”
Axem’s device sits on top of your head, almost like a headband, and records brain activity and function. Its purpose is to allow users to “mentally train” for physical tasks and improve motor function. The device will also connect to a mobile app, which is being built at HAX.
It will still be a while before Axem has its device ready for manufacture but the 14-week accelerator is helping it rapidly develop the prototype.
“In Canada, when we were working on our prototype it would take a couple of weeks to get something like a circuit board,” said Ingram. “It was just a bottleneck. We’d try to fill our time with other stuff, but here it’s just better for rapid prototyping and iteration. You get through more tests and get answers quicker.”
For companies developing complex hardware and software, like Axem, China is the ideal place.
“If you need a part, you don’t need to order it. You basically just go downstairs and find it. There are vendors all over the place.”
HAX is backed by SOSV, a global venture capital firm with $300 million under management. The accelerator offers up to $100,000 in seed funding, mentorship and office and lab space for its participants.
Taking part in HAX builds on the momentum Axem gained in 2017. Late last year the startup was awarded $50,000 as winners of Innovacorp’s Spark Innovation and also became a resident company with Volta Labs in September. Ingram also said Axem received funds from the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program, or IRAP.
Ingram says Axem will tackle markets in sports training and is penning letters of intent with professional sports teams, though he declined to name them. In the fall, Ingram and Friesen plan to be more focused on raising investment.
“We got our working prototype running before we got here,” said Ingram. “The Halifax ecosystem was instrumental in that, and has been so supportive of us.”
“While we’re here in China, we’re not just doing product development; we’re meeting people and doing business development.”
Ingram said Axem is looking into the clinical applications of the technology and the subsequent regulatory requirements they would have to meet in the medical device market.]]>
Nov 5, 2017 | Electric Puppets
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Virtual Reality is coming to Nova Scotian Health Care.
Ryan Cameron and his Electric Puppets won $50,000 from the Spark Innovation Challenge.
He paired with the IWK Eye Care Clinic to improve their diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
He says it will let them track patient’s eye movements and pupil dilation.
“That gives us all kinds of diagnistic data about conditions and things they have in their eyes, including things like alignment,” he said.
“In some ways an unprecedented amount of data compared to the current tools they have.”
Other sparks winner from the South Shore include Finleaf Technologies, Nexus Robotics and Suru.
Spark funds technology-based businesses in early stages of development.
They first launched in Cape Breton in 2014 and have expanded across the province.]]>
Jul 29, 2016 | News
See original post in Chronicle Herald
HALIFAX — A new online portal that will deliver medical test results to Nova Scotians via smartphones is the kind of innovation that’s long overdue in Canadian health care, says the federal health minister.
Jane Philpott was in Halifax on Thursday for the launch of the MyHealthNS portal, which has been tested for the past three years in a pilot project involving 30 family doctors and 6,000 patients.
Philpott, who worked as a family doctor, said using technology to create a single patient record is part of improving overall primary care.
“This is exactly the kind of innovation that we need to see more of. This is an important step along the way and Nova Scotia is clearly at the cutting edge on this.”
Philpott said when it comes to “people-centred” services and technologies, she sees banks and credit card companies leading the way.
“I look at the kinds of cloud technology that’s being used all over the world,” she said. “Health care is way behind folks, you and I know it and we’ve got to catch up.”
The cost of Nova Scotia’s new system is $13.3 million over the three-year implementation period, with $10 million from the federal government and $3.3 million from the province.
The initial rollout will serve the Halifax, South Shore and West Hants areas with plans to expand the system provincewide beginning early next year — making Nova Scotia the first in Canada to do so.
The MyHealthNS system is being implemented through McKesson Canada’s RelayHealth.
David Mosher, the company’s program director, said the secure portal can be reached through any device that has Internet access. He said patients would see a dashboard divided into sections for health records, messaging doctors, and for downloading data.
“A patient can just click on ‘add’ and put in data themselves, but the important thing is that it also lists where the source came from,” said Mosher. “When a clinician is looking at this information later they can see whether it came from a patient or one of their colleagues.”
Nova Scotia’s Health Department says the system will allow patients to manage their own health information to the point of saving some visits to health clinics in order to get some test results.
Provincial Health Minister Leo Glavine said results of the pilot project indicated that through the course of a year, physicians had 22 per cent more time to see other patients.
Dr. Stewart Cameron, a Halifax physician who took part in the pilot, said using the electronic system is about making practices more efficient.
“We have a lot of things that family doctors waste time on when they would much prefer to be engaged in patient care,” Cameron said. “I see it as making better use of our existing resources.”
Richmond Campbell, a patient of Cameron’s, said he has a condition that means his blood has been tested every month for the past 10-years.
Campbell said using the portal saved him trips to the doctor’s office to get information he can now get in a quicker, more convenient way.
“It simplifies everything greatly and of course it gets me really involved in managing my health,” he said.
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press]]>
