Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC together with Johnson & Johnson Medical Shanghai Ltd. today at AmCham China's Technology and Innovation Summit named HelpWear and Us2.ai as awardees of the Digital Technologies of Tomorrow QuickFire Challenge. The Challenge aimed to support innovators working on promising medical device technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, 3D-printing, the Internet of Things, and 5G in diagnostics, perioperative treatment solutions, and emerging and transformative technologies.

• HelpWear: Toronto-based HelpWear builds a continuous clinical-grade ECG monitoring system capable of providing near-real-time data to care providers enabling timely medical interventions and better management of patients follow arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation.
• Us2.ai: Singapore-based Us2.ai aims to automate the fight against heart disease, using machine learning techniques to enable fast interpretation of echocardiography images of the highest quality.

They will receive a combined total of $100,000 in grant funding; one year of residency at JLABS @ Shanghai, including a workstation and access to the Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JLABS ecosystem; and mentorship from experts across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies.

"Digital technologies are creating unprecedented opportunity to reimagine how care is accessed, delivered, managed and experienced. At Johnson & Johnson Innovation, we aim to build and scale user-centered digital health solutions and business models in partnership or collaboration with technology companies whose capabilities complement our scientific expertise," said Sharon Chan¹, Head of JLABS @ Shanghai. "We are excited to work closely with these promising awardees with the aim to accelerate ideas and deliver potential breakthrough solutions for the patients and consumers of tomorrow."

The challenge invited applications from entrepreneurs and innovators working on novel technologies specifically related to:

• AFIB: How can we leverage digital technologies with the aim to identify patients and refer them to the appropriate physicians? How can we trace patients for remission after treatment?
• Neurovascular Treatments: How can we detect signs/ risks of stroke for early treatment?
• General and orthopedic surgery, including distant operating stage support and AI-enabled procedure planning: How can we drive more effective potential perioperative solutions (including pre-, intra- and post-surgery) with emerging technologies? How can we apply innovative, untraditional material to orthopedics surgery?

The awardees were evaluated based on criteria including potential impact, the uniqueness of their potential solution and competitive landscape, clarity of plan, feasibility and potential to commercialize within twelve months, team credibility & capabilities, and the potential impact on Chinese ecosystem.

As part of their efforts to help deeply transform patient experiences along their treatment pathways, Johnson and Johnson Medical Shanghai Ltd. is widely seeking collaborations with health technology pioneers, including both companies and organizations, to help catalyze innovative potential solutions for the healthcare industry in China and beyond.  

Johnson & Johnson Innovation has developed the QuickFire Challenge platform with the aim to help enable potential groundbreaking science and health solutions by encouraging students, entrepreneurs, researchers and start-up companies to tackle some of the world's most challenging problems in healthcare. Through our diverse regional team in Shanghai, our science and technology experts aim to help life science startups thrive and fuel the global life science ecosystem through flexible, customized partnership models and collaborations; early-stage incubation, startup services and mentorship; and strategic venture capital investments.

For more information about the QuickFire Challenges, please visit: https://jlabs.jnjinnovation.com/quickfire-challenges.