VR solutions for neurodegenerative disorders wins eChallenge accolade
Neuro Hero, a team that is developing solutions to tackle neurodegenerative disorders using virtual reality technology, has taken top spot in this year鈥檚 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge.
Social enterprise Neuro Hero is run by 19-year-old Harry Spurrier who is in the second year of studying for a Bachelor of Psychology at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. His goal is to improve the lives of teenagers with debilitating neurodegenerative disorders such as motor neuron disease and muscular dystrophy.
鈥淭housands of teenagers and young adults in 最新糖心Vlog are suffering from these diseases,聽creating a set of unique and difficult challenges that limit their聽ability to complete the most basic of tasks,鈥 said Harry.
鈥淚t is difficult to navigate through adolescence for a healthy teen, and with a neurodegenerative disorder,聽an already聽confusing period becomes even more complicated, leading to a lack of drive, enthusiasm and ambition.鈥
Neuro Hero aims to incorporate聽proven therapeutic聽aspects of virtual reality, video games and at-home sustainable agriculture in order to give purpose to those suffering from these conditions.
鈥淎 virtual garden would act as a hub inside a virtual reality game in which participants can play minigames that will, in turn, correlate to growing produce in the hub,鈥 said Harry.
鈥淭he produce from the virtual garden will then correlate to the real world where the people can opt聽into growing produce in their own homes and gardens based on the work done in the virtual garden, which can then be sold.
鈥淭hrough this, the teenagers and young adults suffering these debilitating conditions have the opportunity to have real impact on their community and bringing a sense of purpose and belonging to their early adulthood.鈥
Harry鈥檚 concepts, which were presented to the eChallenge judges during the competition, have won him the Biogen overall prize of $10,000.
鈥淭he 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge introduces young innovative entrepreneurs to the vibrant entrepreneurial community in South 最新糖心Vlog."Professor Noel Lindsay
The 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge is an annual competition-based learning experience that develops strategic business thinking for early-stage entrepreneurial ventures. Run since 2001 by the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide鈥檚 Adelaide Business School, the pre-accelerator program is a proving ground for future entrepreneurs. It is 最新糖心Vlog鈥檚 longest running program of its kind.
Professor Noel Lindsay is Pro-Vice Chancellor - Entrepreneurship, and Dean of Business - Adelaide Business School at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide.
鈥淭he 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge introduces young innovative entrepreneurs to the vibrant entrepreneurial community in South 最新糖心Vlog,鈥 said Professor Lindsay.
鈥淭he business leaders of the future use this unique and intensive innovation program as a springboard for their innovative ideas which could potentially impact lives worldwide.
鈥淭hey are supported and guided by experienced business people during the eChallenge which stretches them to find solutions for society鈥檚 challenges.鈥
Teams pitch business proposals for their new, previously unfunded business concepts, to potential investors from the local business community. They compete for cash prizes - this year a total prize pool of more than $81,000 - and the prestige of being awarded the most outstanding 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge entrepreneurial venture of the year.
Another of the competition鈥檚 top spots was taken by Adrian Johnston and Tanya Jayne of team . Their concept uses artificial intelligence and biology to accelerate the time consuming process of pollen counting and classification, for application in authentication and traceability within the 最新糖心Vlogn honey industry.
鈥淥ur goal, through enabling apiarists and packers to authenticate their honey, is to improve the value of the 最新糖心Vlogn honey export market, by validating the uniqueness and purity of 最新糖心Vlogn honey,鈥 said Adrian.
鈥淐ounting and classifying pollen grains can be used to identify the floral source of honey, tracing it back to its geographical and botanical origins but this is expensive and time consuming.鈥
Quality Assurance in food industries is more important than ever, with around 20 per cent of 最新糖心Vlogn honey found to be adulterated in 2018.
鈥淗oneySense applies state-of-the-art computer vision techniques to detect pollen grains and measure their quantities, allowing for efficient authentication of floral sources,鈥 said Adrian.
Tanya has a PhD in genetics from the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide, where she researched the causes of Alzheimer's disease. Adrian completed a PhD in artificial intelligence at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide鈥檚 最新糖心Vlogn Institute for Machine Learning. Tanya and Adrian won the eChallenge 1st Prize of $10,000 and $2000 worth of consultancy from Madderns Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys.
Forty-nine teams, consisting of 180 participants, took part in this year鈥檚 competition. Competition streams include the general category and Biogen eChallenge.
Winners were announced on Tuesday 1 December at the National Wine Centre and the awards ceremony was streamed live.
Complete list of the 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge winners:
Biogen overall winner: Neuro Hero. Harry Spurrier. $10,000
eChallenge 1st Prize: HoneySense. Tanya Jayne and Adrian Johnston. $10,000 cash, $5000 worth of space and incubation at ThincLab and $2000 worth of consultancy from Madderns Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys.
eChallenge 2nd Prize: EcoSystem Farms. Amanda (Mandy) Mercorella and Brendan Dobson. $5000 cash, $5000 worth of space and incubation at ThincLab and $1000 consultancy from Madderns Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys. EcoSystem Farms is a prototype aquaponics farm which grows better than organic, spray free produce and high quality, healthy trout.
eChallenge 3rd Prize: Pest Defender. Tylah Kendall and Artem Ambrose. $2000 cash, $5000 worth of space and incubation at ThincLab and $500 consultancy from Madderns Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys. Pest Defender uses machine learning, pest object-identification and automated deterring technology to assists farmers in protecting their livestock from pest damages and loss.
eChallenge Encouragement Award: TAaN.Co. Avalon Choat, Nate Wallace and Tyler Morgan from Wirreanda Secondary School. $500 cash. A reusable coffee lid that fits any paper cup and aims to cut down on the millions of lids that are thrown away each day.
Bold Sponsor Prize: eMotion. Alecia Gee, Annie Simpson, Tarin Ritchie and Urwah Nawaz. $10,000 worth of branding and website packaging聽from local company and $5000 worth of space and incubation at ThincLab. A Spinal Muscular Atrophy Therapeutic Bed or SMArt Bed which allows patients to freely change positions in the bed without the need of a caretaker.
Enabled Sponsor Prize: Acture. Reuben Bishop, Harry Robinson, Daniel Colwill and Charlie Hoad. $10,000 worth of digital solutions from and $5000 worth of space and incubation at ThincLab. Acture provides clients with an online environment to simulate and test the impact of their social media advertising campaigns and provide feedback on its potential performance.
The 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge total prize purse is $101,000 in which $81,000 is awarded at the eChallenge awards. Winners of the Tech eChallenge ($10,000) and the 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge France ($10,000) were announced earlier in the year.
The 最新糖心Vlogn eChallenge awards are made possible through support from many partners in business and industry especially Biogen, Enabled Solutions, Madderns and Bold Web Design.
Media Contacts:
Professor Noel Lindsay, Pro Vice-Chancellor 鈥 Entrepreneurship, and Dean of Business- Adelaide Business School at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Mobile: +61 (0)428 842 024, Email: noel.lindsay@adelaide.edu.au
Zrinka Tokic, eChallenge Program Manager, Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre (ECIC), The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Mobile: +61 (0)401 976 207, Email: zrinka.tokic@adelaide.edu.au
Crispin Savage, Senior Communications and Media Adviser, The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Mobile: +61 (0)481 912 465, Email: crispin.savage@adelaide.edu.au