The ALS Assistive Technology Challenge, a joint initiative by The ALS Association and Prize4Life, is offering a $400,000 prize for the development of flexible, accessible technology to help people with ALS communicate with ease. The challenge is open to academics, industry, young start-ups and anyone that believes they can make a difference for people living with ALS.
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The ALS Assistive Technology Challenge is comprised of two phases.
Grant Phase
The first Prize Phase, which launched in October 2015, concluded with four $50,000 winners announced March 9, 2016. These grants are to help with the development of prototypes for communications.
Prize Phase
The second Prize Phase, which takes place March 2016 to December 2016, will result in a $400,000 award. The first $100,000 will be given when the winner is announced and the remaining $300,000 will be given in three installations when three particular milestones are reached over a maximum two-year time frame.
Teams are invited (whether they participated in the first phase or not) to submit their prototype, which will be judged and tested by ALS patients.
View the Prize Phase finalists
To enter the Prize Phase, teams must have a working prototype of their communication solutions, which should be:
General user satisfaction is also part of the award criteria. Testing with patients is highly valuable and encouraged. The organizers will try to assist interested teams in connecting with people living with ALS whenever possible.
The ALS Association and Prize4Life are extremely grateful for the participation of numerous volunteer judges who are lending their time and talent to help evaluate all ALS Assistive Technology Challenge solutions. They include:
Ammar Al-Chalabi, M.D.
Director of King’s Care Centre and Professor of Neurology and Complex Genetics at King’s College London
Merit Cudkowicz, M.D., MSc
Director of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) MDA ALS clinic, Chief of Neurology Service, Co-Director of the Neurological Clinical Research Institute and the Neuromuscular Division at MGH and a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
Sabrina Paganoni, M.D.
Dr. Paganoni obtained her MD degree at the University of Milan in Italy and a PhD in Neuroscience at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. She completed her medical training in Boston: residency at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She is Board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neuromuscular Medicine, and Electrodiagnostic Medicine. She is currently working at MGH in the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) clinic and is faculty at the MGH Neurological Clinical Research Institute. Her research focuses on ALS therapy development including the use of neuroimaging studies in early clinical trials.
Terry Heiman-Patterson, M.D.
Section Chief of neuromuscular disorders at Drexel University College of Medicine; Medical Director of the MDA/ALS Center of Hope at Drexel University College of Medicine; Co-Founder and President of the board of the ALS Hope Foundation; Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology at Drexel University College of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology
Bernard Muller
A patient advocate and successful entrepreneur in the maritime and oil industry; founder of drug company, Treeway; and co-founder of Project MinE, the largest ALS genetic research project
Shay Rishoni
A former successful executive, Iron Man and military colonel; CEO of Prize4Life, working to promote ALS research, care and advocacy
Pat Quinn
A patient advocate, co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge; and founder of Quinn for the Win
Jay Beavers
Principal Development Lead at Microsoft Research Connections
Jane Huggins, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor at the departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan
Bob Koppes, MSc, M.B.A.
A management consultant at Accenture, Amsterdam
Kevin Caves
A rehabilitation engineer at Duke University Health system
Steve Gleason
An honorary judge in the ALS Assistive Technology Challenge, Steve is a former professional football player, who played safety with the NFL's New Orleans Saints from 2000-2008. In 2011 he was diagnosed with ALS, which led him to start Team Gleason, aimed to show patients can not only live but thrive after an ALS diagnosis.