Innovision Awarded NSF Grant
Innovision, LLC. has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $255,735 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on the technology that improves the effectiveness and compliance of scoliosis physiotherapy.
Under this NSF’s SBIR Phase I, Innovation team is utilizing patient digital twin, computer vision, deep learning, and serious games to create a software-hardware combined technology—Ufit-Exercise. It will enable telehealth between a physiotherapist and a scoliosis patient, improve the accuracy and completeness of diagnosis and assessment, optimize physiotherapy design and planning, facilitate effective patient communication and education, and help patients to perform physiotherapeutic exercises according to instructions and compliance requirements. It will save costs for patients, expand services for clinics, and improve the outcomes of scoliosis treatment. Since scoliosis affects the quality of life of millions of people and could even deprive them of a normal life, the technology being developed by Innovision team will generate significant societal benefits. The patient digital twin which is the core part of the technology can be used not only for physiotherapy but also for brace design, spine surgery planning, and post-surgery rehabilitation.
“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.”
“We are honored to receive this competitive award,” said Dr. Zhiqing Cheng, the founder of Innovision and the principal investigator of this project. “The grant will support our technical development effort, whereas Bootcamp and I-Corps program provided by NSF SBIR program will help us to commercialize our technology.”
Once a small business is awarded a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant (up to $275,000), it becomes eligible to apply for a Phase II (up to $1,000,000). Small businesses with Phase II funding are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales.
Startups or entrepreneurs who submit a written Project Pitch will know within one month if they meet the program’s objectives to support innovative technologies that show promise of commercial and/or societal impact and involve a level of technical risk. Small businesses with innovative science and technology solutions, and commercial potential are encouraged to apply. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program, also known as America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, undergo a rigorous merit-based review process. To learn more about America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, visit: https://seedfund.nsf.gov/
About the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $2 million to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.5 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.