LOS ANGELES (December 13, 2016) - XPRIZE, the global leader in incentivized prize competitions, today announced the launch of consumer testing in the $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, in which two finalist teams’ devices will undergo consumer testing in the final phase of the competition. The global competition, sponsored by the Qualcomm Foundation, challenges teams to develop a consumer-focused, mobile diagnostic device based on the medical Tricorder of Star Trek® fame first shown to TV viewers 50 years ago. The devices are required to weigh less than five pounds, diagnose and interpret a set of 13 health conditions and continuously monitor five vital health metrics.
Consumer testing will continue through early 2017 and will take place at the Altman Clinical Translational Research Institute at the University of California San Diego. The testing is assisted by a clinical coordinator who trains the consumer on the device, followed by an approximately 90-minute independent session that provides a diagnosis within minutes.
The top two teams have advanced to the final consumer testing round:
- Dynamical Biomarkers Group (Zhongli City, Taiwan), a team of physicians, scientists and engineers and mobile technology company HTC led by Harvard Medical School professor Chung-Kang Peng, PhD.
- Final Frontier Medical Devices (Paoli, Pa.), a team led by the founders of Basil Leaf Technologies—brothers Dr. Basil Harris, an emergency room physician, and George Harris, a network engineer.
“It is an impressive achievement for these two teams to advance to the consumer testing stage of the competition with their devices,” said Grant Campany, prize lead, Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE. “This stage not only takes us one step closer to transforming sci-fi vision into a real-world impact, but more importantly, we are another important step closer to bringing a very user-friendly device to consumers around the globe, allowing them to proactively manage their own health in a way that has never been done before.”
The conditions tested include ten required core conditions and the absence of core conditions, which include: Anemia, Atrial Fibrillation, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Diabetes, Leukocytosis, Pneumonia, Otitis Media, Sleep Apnea, Urinary Tract Infection. In addition to the core conditions, devices must detect three elective health conditions from a set including HIV Screen, Hypertension, Melanoma, Shingles and Strep Throat.
“Star Trek has inspired many engineers on a quest to improve the world by turning science fiction into reality. The Communicator preceded the smartphone, which has revolutionized our personal interactions, and provided instant access to knowledge and entertainment,” said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, executive chairman, Qualcomm Incorporated. “Now, our healthcare will be improved through the hard work and ingenuity of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE teams who are bringing the devices to life. We congratulate these two finalists on their success to date and wish them luck in the consumer testing phase.”
Launched in 2012, the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE will culminate in the first quarter of 2017. The first prize winner is awarded $6M, with $2M for second place and $1M for the team that receives the highest vital signs score in the final round. An additional $1M has been awarded in milestone prizes. The competition was officially extended in December 2015, providing the remaining seven finalist teams with additional time to further refine their submissions and perform lab test sessions and human test sessions before they entered the final consumer testing phase of the competition. Based on these additional tests, only two final teams were selected and permitted to progress to the consumer testing round.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. XPRIZE utilizes a unique combination of gamification, crowd-sourcing, incentive prize theory, and exponential technologies as a formula to make 10x (vs. 10%) impact in the grand challenge domains facing our world. XPRIZE’s philosophy is that—under the right circumstances— igniting rapid experimentation from a variety of diverse lenses is the most efficient and effective method to driving exponential impact and solutions to grand challenges. Active competitions include the $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE, the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $15M Global Learning XPRIZE, the $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, the $7M Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, the $7M Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE, the $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, the $1.75M Water Abundance XPRIZE and the $1M Anu & Naveen Jain Women’s Safety XPRIZE.
About the Qualcomm Foundation
Established in 2010 by Qualcomm Incorporated, the Qualcomm Foundation is dedicated to developing and strengthening communities worldwide. Specifically, the Qualcomm Foundation focuses its philanthropic efforts on helping create and sustain educated, healthy, culturally vibrant communities in regions around the globe. For more information about the Qualcomm Foundation and Qualcomm Incorporated’s global social responsibility programs, visit www.qualcomm.com/community.
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