Project description
AI-powered medical device for neurological disorder recovery
Motor disabilities represent a fifth of neurological disorders worldwide and significantly affect the independent living of patients. Spinal cord injury (SCI) is among the disabilities with a lower level of full recovery, especially when it happens at a young age. Yet, there is no real recovery solution, leading to treatments that have limited recovery potential, are costly, time-consuming and represent a serious burden for healthcare systems. The EU-funded BQ System project proposes an advanced IoT medical tool that promotes neurological recovery. The solution focuses on paralysis cases due to SCI or stroke and applies AI abilities to design a personalised low-intensity electromagnetic field treatment increasing recovery potential. The solution is cloud-connected, non-invasive, comfortable and user-friendly.
Objective
Neurological disorders affect over a billion people worldwide, of which 200 million suffer from motor disabilities which substantially impact on their lives. One example of a common neurodisorder is spinal cord injury, where less than 1% of patients experience complete neurologic recovery. when SCI occurs in young age it leaves people to live a whole life of paralysis. Many of these patients will be left dependent on others, unable to perform activities of daily living, and likely be unemployed. To date, there is no real available solution for full recovery. The current standard of treatment, physical therapy, is typically tedious and offers limited recovery potential. In addition to providing minimal results, the present treatment regimens are costly, time-consuming, cumbersome, and require the regular movement of patients between multiple care providers, prompting the need for emerging neurorecovery technologies. With growing numbers, neurological disorders create tremendous pressure on healthcare institutions which are already strained for resources.
BrainQ has developed the BQ System, an innovative IoT medical device to promote neurorecovery. The company's first indication is facilitating motor recovery following paralysis as a result of SCI or stroke. The BQ System implements AI capabilities to tailor a low-intensity electromagnetic field (EMF) treatment for each patient, maximizing their recovery potential for motor function improvement. Treatment with the BQ Device is non-invasive, and is comfortable for patients. It is also cloud-connected with a user-friendly interface.
This project will allow BQ System advance to a home-care protocol, allowing integration with other treatments as well as future vertical scaling to reach patients suffering from motor impairment due to a wide range of neurological disorders. BrainQ will perform engineering optimisation, industrialization, and clinical validation of the BQ System.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2b - SME Instrument (grant only and blended finance)Coordinator
39129 JERUSALEM
Israel
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.