An invention which allows people to detect diseases using a smartphone has won a £30,000 innovation competition.
Smartphone
Developed by Dr Arslan Khalid of Scottish start-up Mobi Dx, iVisco allows for the early detection of diseases by profiling a single drop of blood.
Intended to be used in developing nations, iVisco measures blood clotting time by using acoustic fields. Khalid was inspired by the rural population of Pakistan, where he said everyone has a smartphone but no access to clinics.
iVisco won the inaugural Morgan Innovation & Technology (MIAT) Prize which took place at Santander’s London headquarters.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Khalid said: “Winning this prize means everything to me. I’ve been working on iVisco for four years and finally amazing things are happening. Morgan’s R&D expertise will be crucial to getting it to market. Their input is worth more than money to me.”
The prize will give Mobi Dx access to research & development expertise from a team of specialists to develop their idea.
Judge Dr Mike Short, chief scientific advisor at the Department for International Trade, said of iVisco: “It clearly addresses an unmet need and brilliantly integrates smartphone, internet and point-of-care diagnostics technology for blood clotting.
“Arslan’s resilience in bringing all these technologies together has already shown great progress and is clearly aimed at a major growth market with international appeal – many countries just do not have the clinicians, labs or refrigeration often needed with other more expensive test solutions. Point-of-care testing offers broader access to field diagnostics and healthcare, and the prospect of more immediate feedback to patients facing such difficult conditions.”
MIAT CEO Nigel Clarke said: “We know from our own experiences that practical help and support can often be more valuable to an early stage inventor than cash, so we decided the prize should be made up of R&D and manufacturing services to ensure we deliver a tangible benefit to the winners. This has been an incredibly exciting process and we are thrilled to have such fantastic winners.”
