Cognitive neurorehabilitation with virtual reality

According with most recent study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) one billion people are affected worldwide by neurological disorders. Neurological disorders affect people in all countries, irrespective of age, sex, education or income and its economic impact is huge. According to a study recently published by the American Neurological Association (ANA) the burden of neurological disorders in USA is estimated nearly of $800 billion year while in Europe the economic cost reach €798 billion, of which direct health care cost 37%, direct non-medical cost 23%, and indirect cost 40%. Average cost per inhabitant was €5.550. The European average cost per person with a disorder of the brain ranged between €285 for headache and €30 000 for neuromuscular disorders .
According with the data from the European Brain Council a total of 220.7 million people in Europe suffer from at least one neurological disease – that is more than the populations of Germany, France and Great Britain combined. Headaches (152.8 million affected) top the list of the most common neurological disorders, followed by sleep disorders (44.9 million), strokes (8.2 million) and dementia (6.3 million).Despite the effort put by governments and scientific institutions in facing the global challenge of neurological disorders the results obtained are still unsatisfactory. The UN General Assembly report of December, 2017, underscored that progress in reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases, including neurological disorders, has been insufficient to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal targets by 2030. Neurological disorders are the leading cause of disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Thus, strategies and programmes that reduce the burden from neurological disorders would potentially help to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal targets.

This Feasibility Study aims to objectively and rationally analyse the CognitivRehab business potential for success. It assesses the business model from different angles: technical, economical and operational. Moreover, it provides parallel analysis which are of key importance in order to plan a success strategy: a market assessment, an IPR strategy and an Exploitation plan, which analyses different commercialization channels in order to introduce the product to different markets.During the execution of the PH1 project we were able to perform a technical feasibility assessment and obtain positive results. The success of the activities performed and the technical advancements of our development have confirmed us that we have the main elements to transform our idea into a business opportunity. During the implementation of the PH1 we were able to identify all the technical limitations of our current stage of development, and therefore defining a set-up of specific improvements to be performed in the near future, as well as the resources needed. We know the work to be performed is feasible and we have the technical knowledge to do so by optimizing our current available resources and by receiving financial aid from the EIC accelerator. These results have allowed us to set technical objectives to opt for EIC accelerator funding, which will be complemented by communication and commercial actions to optimise the use of our resources in the future EIC accelerator project.

Living Brain goes beyond the state of the art by providing the following unique selling proposition:
Based on activities of daily life.Living Brain VR software is scientifically based on the principles of neuroplasticity providing immersive 3D scenarios that optimally reproduce the multi-stimuli environments of activities of daily life, speeding up cognitive recovery;
Location- Independent. Unlike the majority of competitors which offer cognitive trainings bound to a location (clinics and hospitals), with Living Brain the patient can perform the cognitive trainings in the comfort of his home;
Personalized cognitive training. Collection of data with the monitoring software enables Living Brain to build not only a feedback loop between the therapist and the patient, but also to collect reliable data for developing new exercises and adapt therapy based on the progress made by the patient. The virtual environments can be tailored to better fit user’s needs, thus promoting much higher levels of adherence and engagement to the cognitive trainings.
High scalability. Compatible with VR head-mounted displays (e.g. Oculus GO and HTC Vive) and data collected can be remotely accessed by physicians and patients.
Cost- effective. Patients can subscribe a training session for a minimum of €50/month. Our clinical partners say that in general 4-6 weeks of intensive training are sufficient to recover the damaged cognitions. The paper-and-pencil tests requires a long training lasting frequently more than one year, with the travelling costs and health care extra costs that they additionally require.
Difficult to replicate the VR software. The replication of the software becomes difficult as scientific studies and very specific neuropsychology expertise are needed to establish the product as a medical product in the market.

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CognitiVRehab (Cognitive neurorehabilitation with virtual reality)

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