Wearable technology for injury prevention
DASA is launching a £1m competition to help prevent injury in service personnel.
The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is seeking novel ways to use data science to prevent injury in service personnel, after a successful event to assess market interest.
The use of wearable and/or nearable technology presents a significant opportunity for the UK Armed Forces to reduce injury. The 3 areas of focus are musculoskeletal injury (MSKI), environmental injury (heat and cold) and noise induced hearing loss (NIHL).
The British Army is seeking rapid innovations to improve the deployability and overall health of service personnel through the use of data science and technology. The aspiration is to employ practical sensors and supporting data analysis that will provide indicators and warnings prior to injury, to allow for early intervention and prevention of injuries.
Consideration must be given to the working and living environments in which the military operate. Technology proposed must function in all climates and environments, and in extreme conditions, with challenges such as dust, sand, wet and extreme temperatures, and it must address security, legal and ethical implications (for instance, encryption, geographical information, transmission and data protection).
DASA is interested in technologies that can be trialled in a realistic military environment within 6 months, reaching a minimum of around technology readiness level (TRL) 6 (technology model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment) at the end of this phase.
This competition will comprise of 2 challenges:
- hardware to collect data (wearable and/or nearable sensor technology)
- data analysis, management and ability to predict and/or warn of potential injury
This competition has up to £1 million available to fund a number of proposals.
A dial-in session providing further detail on the competition will take place on 8 January 2019 providing a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to take part in this dial-in, please register on the Eventbrite page.
This competition closes at midday on 25 January 2019
Full details are available in the competition document.
If you have any queries on this competition, please do contact us at accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.