PRESS RELEASE: MIT Solve Announces 2017 Brain Health Challenge Solver Teams Following Live Pitch Event

Selected Solver Teams Join the Solve Community to Pilot, Scale, and Implement Solutions MIT’s new Solve initiative – and member of the UN Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change – announced the 2017 Solver teams for the Brain Health Challenge at the Solve Challenge Finals late yesterday in New York City. These...
Published on by Ken Meyer

Selected Solver Teams Join the Solve Community to Pilot, Scale, and Implement Solutions

MIT’s new Solve initiative – and member of the UN Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change – announced the 2017 Solver teams for the Brain Health Challenge at the Solve Challenge Finals late yesterday in New York City. These “Solver teams” were selected out of hundreds of submissions to the Brain Health Challenge to pitch their solutions to a live audience and a panel of expert judges including Sarah Lenz Lock J.D., the Senior Vice President for Policy and the Executive Director of Global Council on Brain Health for the AARP, and Alvaro Fernandez, CEO & Editor-in-Chief of SharpBrains.

As Solver teams, each of the 10 finalists chosen to join the Solve community will have the opportunity to build partnerships with cross-sector leaders that help pilot, scale and implement their solutions.

“When we launched this set of Global Challenges in May, we could not have imagined the incredible set of solutions we would receive: 953 solutions from 103 countries across all four Challenges,” said Alex AmouyelExecutive Director of Solve. “It was a difficult competition, and our judges had a tough task ahead of them in choosing the Solver teams. But now, we could not be more excited to help these innovators pilot and scale for global impact.”

The 2017 Brain Health Solver teams, listed below, pitched exciting and creative solutions that provide technology-based solutions for improving brain health and mental resilience. 

  • Augmented Reality Neurorehabilitation Therapy: AUGMENTx makes neuro-rehabilitation more accessible and effective for patients living with stroke, phantom limb pain, and other forms of chronic limb pain with mirror box therapy using augmented reality.

  • Autism Detection at Birth: This brain test for autism is based on a test that screens hearing impairment on 4,000,000 newborns a year. Modifying those hearing tests to also test autism would allow earlier treatment that decreases autism severity and increases the ability to join the workforce. 

  • DCTClock: Digital Cognition Technologies (DCT) is a digital health company with a clinically proven platform that detects cognitive change before symptoms manifest. DCT uses machine learning technology, the use of a digitizing pen as a motion capture device, and the application of clinician-interpretable algorithms to detect impairment earlier, faster, and at far lower cost than existing techniques. 

  • MemoryWell: MemoryWell is a national network of 350 journalists who tell life stories for those living with cognitive impairment in order to help them capture their lives and, down the road, improve their care. The MemoryWell website hosts the stories and families can add to them, building timelines of their favorite anecdotes, music, and movies.

  • Mimerse: Mimerse is a virtual reality platform for mental health that allows anyone, anywhere, to self-administer evidence based on psychological therapies. The Mimerse platform is composed of different scientifically evaluated interventions including distracting, relaxing, cheerful, and distressing exposure therapy, all while teaching users how to think, feel, and behave more constructively.

  • Neurolab Seed: Neurolab Seed provides a research platform to accelerate and amplify human neuroscience along with equipment and training to quickly and cost effectively seed EEG labs across the world in underrepresented countries for large scale and inclusive understanding of the human brain.

  • Psychological Geographies: Psychological Geographies combines data visualization and GIS technology with psychometrics and neuroscience tools to map indicators of conflict potential, trauma, and polarization in vulnerable communities. These maps capture critical differences in how communities think to inform grassroots and policy interventions for mental and social health.

  • StrongMinds Mental Health Africa: StrongMinds implements an innovative, simple and cost-efficient approach to treating impoverished African women who suffer from depression. The StrongMinds model is based on group interpersonal psychotherapy and is facilitated by lay community workers.

  • Timeless: Timeless is a mobile app powered by artificial intelligence-based facial recognition technology which empowers Alzheimer’s patients remember events, stay connected and engaged with friends and family, easily contact loved ones, and remember and recognize people by name and their relationship.

  • Tomo: Tomo is a chatbot that helps manage the habits that keep people healthy. Tomo uses an anonymous, distributed buddy system, to help users help each other. Tomo is designed to provide scalable, personalized mental health support to the ~700 million people worldwide struggling with depression.

A full list of 2017 Solver teams across all four challenges can be found below:


These Solver teams were also in the running to win incredible prizes including The Arts and Culture Mentorship Prize Curated by Yo-Yo Ma, Cellistfor Solver teams who present a solution leveraging arts and culture. MemoryWell, from the Brain Health Challenge, was one of the three Solver teams selected for the Mentorship Prize. 

About Solve: 
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that identifies and supports lasting solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. Solve is a community that brings together technologists, social entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other change agents to unearth and implement solutions to specific, actionable challenges issued around the pillars of Economic Prosperity, Health, Learning, and Sustainability. 

Solve is a community that brings together technologists, social entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other change agents to unearth and implement solutions to specific, actionable challenges facing the world. More than 950 solutions from all over the world were submitted to Solve’s 2017 Global Challenges: (1) Brain Health, (2) Sustainable Urban Communities, (3) Women and Technology, and (4) Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future.  Learn more at solve.mit.edu.

Press Contact:
Ken Meyer
617-258-6121
press@solve.mit.edu

###

Tags:

  • Events
  • Health
  • Press Releases

Share this article: