Wilmington, DE, 21 April 2016 – AIME has won the inaugural Pistoia Alliance Mini Start-Up Challenge following a closely fought contest. Alongside this, xRapid was also voted as the audience winner at the Pistoia Alliance European Conference, in London.
The Pistoia Alliance, an organization dedicated to improving global life sciences R&D, established the challenge to support innovative new start-ups with the potential to improve life sciences R&D.
AIME was announced the winner of the overall contest and will receive a prize of €10,000 and three months mentorship from a senior member of the Pistoia Alliance. xRapid, the winner of the audience vote will receive €5,000 while the finalists will each receive €1,000.
AIME, a mobile app, can be used to predict disease outbreaks three months in advance using artificial intelligence, epidemiology and public health expertise. The app is currently at 88.62 percent accuracy, and can be used to provide information to public health officers, saving lives and money.
Dr Dhesi Raja, from AIME, said: “It is time we revolutionize public health by moving from a reactive approach to a proactive one. Its time we stop deadly outbreaks in advance & save more lives. Today, the Pistoia Alliance demonstrated that the path towards better health resides in preventive medicine, validating our motto of Predicting Diseases, Saving Lives.”
xRapid are developing a digital diagnostic test for tuberculosis. Current diagnostic techniques take up to six weeks, but using a combination of digital image processing and artificial intelligence the xRapid mobile app aims to be able to diagnose tuberculosis quicker, more cheaply and as accurately as an expert microscopist.
Jean Viry-Babel, CEO of xRapid, said: “At xRapid, we are thrilled to have won the public vote. We are pleased that the members of the Pistoia Alliance were able to see the potential of the XRapid Automated Diagnostic App. This event has been a great platform to showcase our innovative technology in front of the pharmaceutical industry.”
Steve Arlington, President of the Pistoia Alliance, said: “Supporting start-up companies is a crucial component of the Pistoia Alliance’s future strategy. Start-ups are one of the best sources for innovation, and I am delighted to say our finalists this year did not disappoint. We have had an incredible range of companies enter, with new techniques in medicine, research, public health and agriculture all competing.”