Breakthrough Helmet Technology Wins Open Innovation Challenge

December 9, 2015 By IdeaConnection

headhealthchallengeThe Head Health Challenge II, an open innovation challenge for innovations that better understand, diagnose and protect against brain injury, has announced its final winner.

The University of Washington was awarded a grant of $250,000 to continue its work on a breakthrough helmet to protect NFL players against traumatic brain injury.

The challenge formed part of the larger Head Health Initiative between GE, Under Armour and NFL and aims to improve innovation in an area that many believe has been lacking.

“Current helmets were designed to protect against skull fracture and they were modeled primarily after motorcycle helmets, and they do a terrific job at that” noted Dave Marver, CEO of VICIS, the university’s commercial partner.  “But they’re not optimised to prevent or mitigate traumatic brain injury or concussion.”

The University of Washington’s helmet is designed to mitigate those forces (i.e., acceleration) that are likely to cause concussion. But football players won’t be the only ones to benefit from the advances afforded by this innovation in head health; army personal and the general public will also do to.

Radical Departure

There were a number of reasons why the helmet picked up the open innovation challenge prize.  Among them were continued technological advancements and the potential for near-term commercialization.  The team working on the helmet are aiming for a radical departure from what is currently available to sportspeople, not a modest tweak on the technology.

At the moment, details about the helmet’s technology and design are a closely guarded secret, known only to a few.  But all is expected to be revealed when the helmet, called ZERO 1 is unveiled this coming January.


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