Vote now for finalists in the Aging 2.0 Global Innovation Search (to 31 July)

July 24, 2020 | by

Vote daily online for your favored technologies up to 31 July. Aging 2.o, the international organization that seeks to accelerate innovation around the biggest challenges and opportunities in aging, plus the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council (LHCC), are sponsoring the Global Innovation Search. 

Aging 2.0 chapters selected the companies (left) on the basis that they help keep older adults connected to their communities, families, healthcare providers, and provide vital information. In addition: 

  • The innovation should address social isolation and loneliness in older adults
  • Innovators must have a commercial-ready or commercially available product/service
  • The company’s Founder or C-level executive (or equivalent) must be the person to present if selected to advance to the Virtual Pitch Competition
  • The top ten innovators that are selected to pitch at the Virtual Pitch Competition will be required to present in English
  • The Global Innovation Search is not only open to startups. Established companies and non-profits are welcome to apply if they have recently (within the last 3 years) launched an innovative solution to improve the lives of older adults

Vote on this page. One vote per day up to 31 July is permitted. Based on the vote, the ten finalists will receive sponsorship, mentorship, and the opportunity to virtually pitch at an event in August (date TBD). 

Some familiar US names in this group are a very old friend from this Editor’s QuietCare days, GrandCare, and UnaliWear [TTA features here]. Many are from the US,  but a sample of international semifinalists are:

  • Canada–AltumView, Sirona.tv, Famli.net, Anna, Tamaduni Connect, Tochtech Technologies, Virtual Coffee House 55+
  • Spain–Oroi
  • Sweden–Camanio Care
  • Israel–BaldPhone
  • Brazil–Eu Vô, Cerebrar – Cérebro Ativo
  • UK–Joy, Buddy Hub, eargym Ltd (interesting to this Editor as it addresses age-related hearing loss and cognition through auditory training)
  • Australia–Feros Care

Hat tip to Jean Anne Booth, CEO of UnaliWear, via LinkedIn.

Unaliwear’s model/muse, Joan Hall, passes at 85

December 6, 2018 | by

imageJoan Hall, the mother who inspired the creation of the stylish wearable PERS, Unaliwear’s Kanega watch, has died aged 85. Jean Anne Booth, Unaliwear’s CEO, founder, and Mrs. Hall’s daughter, wrote her memorable bio on the company’s website. 

Your Editor met Jean Anne in 2014 or 2015 at the mHealth Summit and in showing me the design, she explained that she wanted a wrist-worn emergency alert device/fall detection/assistant device that was stylishly designed to her mother’s exacting standards–and that didn’t require tethering to a smartphone. Mrs. Hall was also her chief style guide and model.

Joan Frances Goss Hall was an Auburn University graduate, professional model, and Army wife and mother who called Fort Sam Houston home. She opened and managed the gift shop at Fort Sam Houston, the well-regarded Army Medical Museum (AMEDD), created a memorial there, and consulted on clothing and props for the Vietnam War TV series, China Beach. For her extensive work, Lt. Gen. James Peake awarded Joan the Army’s highest civilian award, the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, in 2000.

It strikes this Editor that through Mrs. Hall, we are reminded that this is not wholly a chilly business of seeking funding, avoiding data breaches, AI, sensors, and chips. There’s a human factor here that we are designing technology to help people.

There is much more, which you should read here. 

Our TTA team’s sympathy to Jean Anne and her family.

UnaliWear’s Kanega PERS watch nears US launch

February 4, 2017 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/531571-unaliwear-kanega-watch.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]Catching up with UnaliWear’s Kanega watch, which (unbelievably) we haven’t written about since 2015 but have noticed in the Austin tech news, we are cheered to hear that the company is nearing a market launch. This is after two 2016 raises: a November $3.5 million Series A at a $15 million valuation and a February $3.4 million seed round (CrunchBase). This Editor spoke with founder/developer Jean Anne Booth at the 2015 HIMSS Connected Health Conference/mHealth Summit (now PCHA Connected Health Conference) after seeing it in 2014, and was impressed by the design and workmanship of the watches at that time. Ms Booth, a self-described tech geek who developed and sold Luminary Micro, which created a microcontroller (MCU) platform, to Texas Instruments and is also an AMD alumna, wanted an emergency alert device that was stylishly designed to her mother’s exacting standards (a former fashion model and impeccable dresser, left above) and functionally advanced. Her initial designs were funded through a Kickstarter campaign [TTA 27 Mar 15]. As we reported before that in February, it’s quite apart from the usual run of PERS. [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/531584-unaliwear-kanega-watch.gif” thumb_width=”100″ /]Kanega is fully cellular, self-contained and voice-controlled with no buttons: GPS, emergency response connection, fall/inactivity detection, ‘guide me home’ location based voice assistance and medication reminder/assistance behind a high-contrast digital time display which makes it look like a regular (albeit fashionably chunky) watch (left). In mid-year, which is the scheduled market launch, the activation fee will be $50 with a monthly charge of $49.99. If you can’t wait, pre-orders are being taken. PC Magazine

ATA announces award winners, Strategic Summit companies

April 24, 2015 | by

ATA announced the six winners of their Annual Awards recognizing innovators in telemedicine and telehealth for significant contributions, along with six new members of the ATA College of Fellows. One of the more intriguing winners (Innovation in Remote Care) is the US/UK company Sentrian which has built intelligent predictive data models (‘Remote Patient Intelligence’) that can monitor disease and co-morbidity in thousands of patients with the goal of preventing hospitalization and readmissions. Release. ATA has also selected 30 emerging companies to participate in the Telemedicine Investor and Strategic Summit  (more…)

UnaliWear Kanega assistance watch makes Kickstarter goal

March 27, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Unali-Kanega-new-iteration.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]The UnaliWear Kanega assistance watch [TTA 18 Feb] on Wednesday closed its Kickstarter crowdfunding over the top at $110,154. It has several features to promote safety for older people or the disabled, with fall detection, GPS and stand-alone cellular/Wi-Fi connectivity, but the most unique is voice recognition and command/response. Its latest prototype is half the case size as previously, with a more attractive analog watch face, which makes it a lot more MAYA (most advanced yet acceptable–Raymond Loewy), and a major improvement in form over your typical PERS or most GPS watches. With our usual caveat (if it does what it says it does in production), we applaud Jean Anne Booth and her team for their achievement–and we’ll be watching.

An alert watch for older adults that responds to voice commands

February 18, 2015 | by | 3 Comments
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/UnaliWear_Images_r6_c4.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]This Editor has been in Watch Overload (see Apple Watch) for months, but this may be an exception. The UnaliWear Kanega watch (in development) is for the sizable market of older adults who would wear a well-designed watch or band for safety assistance, but not one that screams Old Person With Plastic PERS, an objective shared with the latest edition of buddi [TTA 16 Dec 14]. Their prototype looks like a fairly techno steel watch, a little on the chunky side, but it packs in a lot: a 9-axis accelerometer for fall detection, a GPS locator, Bluetooth LE, cellular/Wi-Fi connectivity and a digital analog display with time and date. What’s unique: no buttons, smartphone or other tether. It works via speech recognition and ‘talks with’ the wearer (via mechanical voice, messaging on the display and a feed to a BLE hearing aid if worn.) (more…)