The new reality we face today in 2020 has added significant new challenges to rehabilitation for children with disabilities and their families. Now more than ever, they need effective, affordable assistive technologies and remote rehabilitation solutions to give them the best possible future and quality of life. Pediatric rehabilitation contributes significantly to quality of life through adulthood, and interruptions and delays in treatment can lead to complex developmental challenges and delays moving forward. Remote rehabilitation provides a safe option for children with disabilities to continue their treatment while maintaining social distancing. To ensure that no child gets left behind, our portfolio startups have kept working hard and pushing boundaries, despite the circumstances, with greater focus on remote rehabilitation.
We’re happy to share some of the exciting progress at ALYNnovation from the past several months, including four new agreements to develop essential assistive technology products. We hope that this update finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy during this pandemic.
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce Ariela Lazan, a new Innovation Program Manager on our team. Before joining us in February, Ariela managed business development for medtech and healthcare startups at OurCrowd, leading equity crowdfunding platform and Israel’s most active VC. She has a B.A. in Psychology from IDC Herzliya, where she focused on cognitive psychology and the intersection between humans and emerging technologies. Ariela served in the IDF as a Family Liaison Officer, working with injured soldiers, veterans, and bereaved families. You can reach her at alazan@alyn.org.
Headovations have received CE clearance (Class 1 Medical Device) on the Headaloft wheelchair headrest with occipital support, which was co-developed with ALYN. They have begun manufacturing and commercialization of the Headaloft, and are in advanced stages of development of a new product that will include a revolutionary universal mounting system that can be installed on the headrest of any wheelchair. Congratulations to the whole team on reaching this important milestone!
Thank you once again for your contribution and support - they have never been more crucial than they are right now.
Arie Melamed Yekel
General Manager, ALYNnovation
Phone: +972 (0)54 9266297
Email: ariemy@alyn.org
NBEL is combining the cutting edge of neuromorphic computing with computer vision and inverse kinematics to develop a wheelchair-mounted robotic arm and hand that respond to adaptive controls. They joined our portfolio early this year to co-develop the solution. In July 2020, NBEL and ALYNnovation were awarded a competitive grant from Intel and Accenture, making them one of only a few initiatives in the world who have access to Intel’s neuromorphic chips. Click here to read more about this amazing project.
Voiceitt’s powerful customizable speech recognition technology is designed to understand and interpret dysarthric speech, which can be caused by numerous types of disorders and disabilities. Voiceitt can integrate with smart-home solutions to make it possible for people with disabilities associated with upper-body including progressive conditions that cause dysarthric speech to benefit from smart-homes and virtual assistants. Click here to read about how we’re installing their solution in ALYN’s Independent Living Neighbourhood to be used by the residents.
Israel Innovation Authority opened a new cohort of their Assistive Technology Incentive Program ("EzerTech") to fund the R&D of new assistive technologies. Click here to read about ALYNnovation’s innovation partners that submitted proposals.
Your continued partnership with ALYNnovation will change and impact the lives of thousands of children with disabilities throughout Israel and the world.
To donate, click here.