Summary of work and results: The aim of NeMoFoil was to 1) provide proof of concept that a completely implantable neural recording device was feasible without wires passing through the human skull, and 2) show that there is a market for this device in the medical field. Two milestones were defined for progress in both aims, and were met on time. The research went beyond what was planned and resulted in the complete design and testing of miniaturized electronics, which was possible only due to partnering with a technical research institute and additional funding from both the host UMC Utrecht, and the partner. Further development and testing continues beyond the lifetime of this PoC grant, as laid down in a legal research agreement (where partners agree to share the foreground IP), and aims to result in obtaining additional funding to move the work further towards commercial exploitation. The conclusion of the project are that 1) there is a considerable potential market for the NeMoFoil implants (see below), 2) a prototype implant features qualities that are sufficient for monitoring brain signals from the human brain (Signal-To-Noise, and Data Throughput), and 3) the achievements will provide an excellent basis for acquiring additional funding from Government Grants and Industrial Parties
Socioeconomic potential: From the market trends analysis, we concluded that the outpatient seizure detection for surveillance monitoring is the most potential market. Also, as a result from the epilepsy interviews with experts in this field it is found that inside the epilepsy market NeMofoil creates the most value as an outpatient seizure detection device for surveillance monitoring over the other potential markets, EMU and outpatient diagnosing. For the brain computer interface (BCI) market it is more challenging to determine the value of NeMoFoil as this market is not yet (commercially) established, and intracranial BCI performance requirements are yet unknown. In other words, the BCI-market is still in its very early development phase. Based on this we focus on outpatient seizure detection for surveillance monitoring, with possibilities to expand to BCI market on the long term.
1st target market, 5-7 years: Outpatient seizure detection for surveillance monitoring
2nd target market, 7+ years: BCI–intracranial brain-machine interface
