NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing health equity and diagnostic technologies (GA)

This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award is focused on building an innovation ecosystem in Georgia with the plan to expand to surrounding southeastern states that develops and translates affordable and widely available devices that can be easily worn or used in daily life to promote health and wellness for everyone, particularly for those in underserved communities. Life expectancy and other health outcomes in the southeast are the lowest in the US, making it the prime region for this potential Engine. Critical to the success of this activity will be a tight integration and engagement of diverse communities across rural and urban areas to inform and develop devices that can be used at the point of care. These community user groups will help define technology needs through a rigorous needs-assessment program, informing technology roadmaps that ultimately drive solicitations for use-inspired research, education, and workforce development. Technology translated and made commercially available will be directly employed in the same diverse user communities across the region. The main Engine partners of Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Georgia, Morehouse School of Medicine, the Center for Global Health Innovation, and the Technical College System of Georgia all have strong ties to these diverse user communities. They will build on these and industry connections to develop the potential Engine. This Development Award will focus on (1) building an ecosystem of partners to drive use-inspired research and technology translation in the area of point-of-care diagnostics and wearables with strong community engagement to advance health equity; (2) expanding existing relationships with vulnerable and underserved Georgia communities, from a healthcare perspective, and, with input from all stakeholders, develop an initial use-inspired technology roadmap which will be expanded to neighboring states in subsequent phases; (3) establishing an annual technology showcase event that drives technology translation by highlighting developments in point-of-care medical devices and bringing together researchers, healthcare professionals, industry leaders, government, community leaders, and technology funders; and (4) developing a comprehensive education and workforce development program based on industry and community input. Via its specific programs, the Development Award will fill current gaps in community representation, industry involvement, and resources for technology translation. Thus, it will prepare the team for a full NSF Engine. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.