172877_APEX_Global Book_REV PROOF

Updates on Some of the Past Global Challenge Finalists

$30,000 Grand Prize Winner in 2018 GRACE , Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile Felipe Nagel, Federico Jensen, Alex Carimán

GRACE is conducting their first medical trial in Chile by working with CETRAM, a Chilean center for movement disorder. The team is preparing a medical publication about the safety and efficacy of their biomedical device for tremor control on patients diagnosed with Essential Tremor. With their prize money, they’ve updated their prototype with new features to improve data acquisition. They’re exploring venture capitalist opportunities in Chile and the U.S. The device is being patented at the European Patent Office, and soon in Hong Kong. $10,000 Information Technology Award in 2018 novapace , Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany Lukas Braisz, Patrick Scholl, Simon Staffa Team novapace (formerly called FeetBack) launched its website in November 2018 at https://novapace.de. In September 2018, they received the EXIST Business Start-Up Grant, a program from the European Union for turning scientific business ideas into business plans. This one-year scholarship provides salary for all team members, professional coaching and financial support for prototype development and testing. The team won second place for its training device for Parkinson’s patients at the 2018 Arrow Electronics Innovators Award, which focuses on hardware startups. This device includes a sensor-based shoe insole in combination with a smartphone application to help patients reintegrate correct walking patterns into their everyday life and receive customized training suggestions. The novapace team plans on conducting laboratory tests with Parkinson's patients in February 2019. It’s searching for investors to pursue a clinical pilot study in cooperation with the neurology department of Frankfurt University Hospital and preparing its sensor-embedded shoe insole for mass production. $5,000 People’s Choice Winner in 2018 Babycer , Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile Catalina Musalem, Claudia Concha, Arthur Guimaraes, Felipe Hevia, Matías Martínez Babycer continues to develop its concept and has participated in another entrepreneur competition while seeking investors for their device that helps mothers breastfeed their children with special needs. teams in D2T AdventureX, a competition between innovative business models and projects at pre-seed stage in North Italy and Austria. They were awarded admission and acceptance into an incubator for one year and the possibility to pitch at PNI at Euregio Final and the Italian Award for Innovation. Learn more at https://www.artaxy.com. Blockflyer, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland, 2018 Finalist: Blockflyer continues to progress with its business, a revolutionary payments solution, which provides air travelers with one single currency in one single account for all their frequent flyer miles. The founder, Steven Rüttimann, is conducting market research by meeting with various airlines to refine, enhance and define the business’ service platform. Blockflyer recently partnered with the Center for Aviation Competence at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Tech Gym, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, 2018 Finalist: After the VT Global Entrepreneur Challenge, Tech Gym joined a medical device-based accelerator in Australia and received a successful first round of seed money. In 2019, it plans to build its product, develop its commercial strategy and prepare for clinical trials. Tech Gym develops robotic rehabilitation devices that can assist rehabilitation therapists in their day-to-day operations. Learn more at www.techgym.com.au. Artaxy, University of Trento, Italy, 2018 Finalist: Team Artaxy was awarded second place in Bootstrap Demo Day, organized by HIT, on November 12, 2018. Artaxy brings art into everyday life and transforms public places such as bars, hotels and restaurants into exhibition spaces for emerging artists with the help of technology. They recently were awarded third place out of 40

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