ALS Association and Prize4Life annouce the ALS Assistive Technology Challenge

The ALS Association and Prize4Life together invite applications for the ALS Assistive Technology Challenge. Deadline for submitting a brief study outline is November 9, 2015. The challenge aims to address the most immediate need of ALS patients and accelerate the development of tools that enable communication. The programme is built as a two stage grant. Funding is up to $ 450,000. 
The tools that enable communication should be:


Effective and innovative beyond currently available technologies;


Easy to use and adaptive to the diverse and changing needs of individuals with ALS, including those with no limb movement or speech capabilities. Solutions should as much as possible accommodate all disease stages and be continuously usable as the disease progresses;


Solutions will be tested on patients in all stages. Software solutions should be adaptable to diverse platforms;


Cost effective with regards to development and affordable for ALS patients (either directly through price or through a reasonable path to becoming integrated into standard care and reimbursement by international insurance organizations);


Accessible to patients as much as possible (i.e., can be used in a wide range of places and situations, portable and easy to manipulate);


Scalable within a reasonable timeline (including regulatory requirements from FDA, FCC and UL).


Preference will be given to solutions that are developed with interfaces in multiple languages.
 
Funding for Phase I will be € 50,000 for each grant. For Phase II, the best performing team as judged by the challenge committee will receive the second phase of funding which is $ 400,000. Deadline for full proposals for Phase I is January 15, 2016.