The Med-Tech Innovation Awards are back for 2022 with a total of 35 finalists across seven categories.   The five returning categories of 3D printing, Materials Innovation, Design, Engineering and Connected Health are joined by the all-new Sustainability Category, along with a Special Recognition Award for the companies developing innovations relating to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The winners will be announced on 8th June at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham at the Medilink UK Healthcare Business Awards in association with Med-Tech Innovation.

The finalists for each category are:

3D Printing Award
ABCD reconstructive solutions

Entrant: LUCID Implants

To reconstruct craniomaxillofacial deformities caused by the COVID-induced surge of black fungus cases across India, Lucid Implants has developed custom implants and cutting guides to improved surgical accuracy, resulting in a 53% decrease in-hospital stay, a 73% decrease in OT time, and an 88% decrease in recovery cost.

Lattice dental implant bar

Entrant: Western University

Western University has developed the first additive manufactured lattice implant bar which supports and retains dentures. Leveraging AM’s freedom in design complexity, when compared with traditional milling workflows the design reduces the weight, material, time, and cost.

Microfluidic chips for in vitro diagnostics

Entrant: Rapid Fluidics

Microfluidics are a fast-growing enabler of in vitro diagnostics. Rapid Fluidics has employed 3D printing to print fully sealed complex microfluidic chips for use in industrial R&D at a fraction of the time and cost assumed by industry today.

Customised Orthopaedic Lasts with AM

Entrant: PROTIQ

This intuitive shoe Last configurator uses Trinckle 3D’s Paramate automated design software and innovative BASF TPU materials to create 3D printed custom Lasts, enabling orthopaedic shoemakers to reduce production time from a few weeks to a few days compared to traditional techniques.

SKOP Stethoscope

Entrant: Nexa3D

The SKOP Stethoscope, designed by WeMed, is the first 3D printed cardiopulmonary auscultation medical device intended for both healthcare professionals and the general public for the purpose of inexpensive remote diagnostics.

Connected Health Award
AcuPebble SA100

Entrant: Acurable

This ground-breaking device is a tiny wearable acoustic sensor, which in 2020 became the first medical device to obtain the CE mark for the automated diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea and has since gained FDA clearance for home sleep apnoea testing in the USA.

NeuroMotor Pen

Entrant: Manus Neurodynamica

The NeuroMotor Pen is a unique scalable digital solution for the differential diagnosis of essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). It combines sensor technologies with software and an analytical engine with Decision Support System.

PocDoc - at home personal diagnostics

Entrant: PocDoc

Using a combination of lateral flow technology and digital imagery processing, this innovative development allows anyone with a smartphone to give themselves a blood test for a range of major diseases and get results, a health assessment and guidance all within minutes.

SleepCogni ring trigger device

Entrant: SleepCogni

Providing sleep clinicians with an economical and efficient technological solution to diagnose and monitor insomnia and other sleep disorders, this in-home monitoring and biofeedback treatment combines both a wearable medical device and SaaS platform with AI.

Spinal fusion Implant - SmartFuse System

Entrant: Intelligent Implants

The SmartFuse system consists of a spinal fusion implant which delivers local electrical stimulation to accelerate bone growth, and an external "wearable" which wirelessly powers and communicates with the implant through a cloud-based physician portal and patient app.

Design Award
Aidaptus Disposable Auto-injector

Entrant: Owen Mumford

The patented adaptable auto injector can work with a range of fill volumes and syringes, to provide flexibility for pharmaceutical companies during the clinical trial phase of drug development and for lifecycle management when varying formulations may be required.

Babypurp - light therapy medicine

Entrant: Zentet-X ZRT

Aimed at infants up to two-years-old as a drug-free alternative to treating the common illness of childhood thrush, the Babypurp uses scientifically backed light therapy to disinfect the mouth, which inhibits the growth of certain fungi such as Candida albicans.

gaitQ - Restoring mobility in people with Parkinson's

Entrant: gaitQ

Aimed at tackling the festination and freezing symptoms of people with Parkinson’s disease, the gaitQ device utilises the clinically validated method of Cueing which uses a stimulus to activate goal-oriented motor pathways, bypassing brain regions affected by Parkinson’s, whilst the data collected by the device aids long-term diagnostics.

HidraWear Wearable Wound Care

Entrant: HidraMed Solutions

Developed specifically for people living with HS (Hidradenitis Suppurativa), an incurable, debilitating, and long-term skin disease, HidraWear is a wearable wound care solution removing the need for the dressings to be adhesively attached to the skin while still holding the dressing in position.

REACT stab wound treatment

Entrant: ACT MEDICAL

Designed for use by first responders to stab wound victims, the REACT system uses a rapid, inflatable tamponade device which automatically inflates on insertion into the wound, providing direct internal pressure and controlling bleeding in less than a minute.

SAFIRA®: Safer injection for RA

Entrant: Medovate

The SAFIRA system is the only technology that transforms regional anaesthesia into a single operator procedure giving the anaesthetist full control of injection. With a built-in safety feature injection pressure is also automatically limited further reducing the risk of nerve injury and promoting patient safety.

SENSEI® miniature gamma probe

Entrant: Lightpoint Medical

Lightpoint Medical have developed a miniaturized robotic gamma probe designed to significantly widen the field of minimally invasive radio-guided surgery, meeting an urgent medical need to provide real-time, intra-operative cancer detection.

The geko™ device - blood flow stimulation

Entrant: Sky Medical Technology

This daily disposable device gently stimulates the common peroneal nerve activating the calf and foot muscle pumps, resulting in increased venous arterial and microcirculatory blood flow, equal to 60% of walking without a patient having to move.

Engineering Award
Dual sensor for PAP devices

Entrant: Superior Sensor Technology

The CP201 is the only highly integrated dual pressure sensor solution for Positive Airway Pressure devices. Used for many applications including sleep apnoea, this solution eliminates the need for a second physical sensor in the PAP device, improving the product design, time to market, and system costs.

INSIGHT Pro smart fitting solution for prosthesis

Entrant: Adapttech

INSIGHT Pro is a high-resolution solution for lower limb amputee socket replication and pressure distribution evaluation within the patient socket. With CAD/CAM export & integration abilities, INSIGHT shortens the number fitting appointments and enables a more accurate fit.

Q-POC - Reagent fuse

Entrant: QuantuMDx Group

A key component of the Q-POC PCR testing device is the innovative reagent storage container. The fuse and fuse holder enables the reagent lyophilisation fuses to be separately sealed and suspended within the cassette, improving shelf-life, and safeguarding of the most costly component of the disposable.

Materials Innovation Award
BHM® Anti-Viral Nasal Spray

Entrant: Birmingham Biotech

This easy-to-use nasal device contains Norizite (TM), a patented blend of natural ingredients to help slow or prevent viral infection. The gel-like protection coats the nasal cavity, creating a strong, protective barrier to physically trap viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, and remove them from the body.

Bio-based Composite Wheelchair Seat

Entrant: National Composites Centre

Developed using an affordable, bio-based composite material, this new wheelchair seat is lighter and more hygienic than the plywood equivalent, whist providing reliable "built-in" postural control, both of which improve the quality of life for the user.

Flexcera Smile Ultra+

Entrant: Desktop Health

This light-curable resin has been developed for the 3D printing of artificial teeth for dental prostheses. The nanoceramic Resin has a Lifelike Luster and Translucency and is one of the strongest dental resins ever to receive FDA clearance for permanent use.

HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03 medical textiles

Entrant: Meryl Medical

A range of medical fabrics has been developed using HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03 - a combination of vesicle and silver technologies for antiviral and antibacterial effect, resulting in an antimicrobial fabric which is highly effective at preventing the spread of viruses.

MicroGuard™ Anti-Fog Hard Coating

Entrant: Peerless Plastics & Coatings

This unique optically clear, anti-fog, anti-microbial coating for plastics provides both abrasion and chemical resistance and is independently proven to be 99.99% effective against bacteria and viruses - perfect for use in medical plastics such as PPE.

Sustainability Award
COVID-19 Sealing Tube Test

Entrant: Birmingham Biotech

BHM’s innovative new lateral flow test kit produces 75% less plastic waste than traditional lateral flow kits. By combining sampling and testing into one tube and removing the need for a cassette the BHM tests contains only 2.5g of plastic.

Fully recyclable medical fabrics

Entrant: Meryl Medical

Meryl Medical’s antimicrobial fabrics are fully recyclable innovative yarns and fabrics with zero microplastic pollution through the innovative use of hydrogen bonding to create strong molecular chains that seal all microfibres into the filaments.

Reusable PPE Eco-System

Entrant: Mackwell Health

Through the reusable PPE eco-system, being able to reliably trace and disinfect assets allows the health sector to make long term use of reusable PPE in a highly sustainable manner, with full knowledge that each piece of equipment is safe to use repeatedly.

Revolution 200 Reusable Respirator

Entrant: Design Reality

The UK-made revolution 200 is a reusable and recyclable half-mask respirator which features two-way filtration and a clear, anti-fog, speech recognition window with CE, UKCA and AU/NZ certification, removing the need for wasteful single use two-way filtering respirators.

Special Recognition Award – Response to Covid-19
Circle HealthPod - at home rapid testing
Entrant: Prenetics

This re-usable at-home COVID-19 test system delivers PCR-accurate tests in lateral flow times. Developed by the University of Oxford, the highly accurate Ox-LAMP rapid detection system can test up to 10 people, with all results and history accessed via the HealthPod app.

LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test

Entrant: LumiraDx

This point of care platform using microfluidic immunofluorescence technology to receive lab comparable patient results within 12 minutes. The platform consists of a small, lightweight, portable instrument with advanced low-cost test strips and seamless digital connectivity.

Q-POC - point of care diagnostic platform

Entrant: QuantuMDx Group

This multiplex diagnostic device offers PCR testing at the point of need within clinical and non-clinical settings, with results within 30 minutes. The SARS-CoV-2 assays have been uniquely designed to include three targets for COVID-19 to accurately detect all known strains and is robust against future variants.

Transform®, lateral flow digital platform

Entrant: Bond Digital Health

Purpose-built for the lateral flow industry, Transform is a complete digital platform for lateral flow data management. The platform offers an affordable data capture, analytics and visualisation option for test manufacturers, reader providers, public health providers and workplaces.

Veros™ single-use point of care testing platform

Entrant: Sense Biodetection

Veros delivers COVID-19 test results in 15 minutes at a similar quality to lab-based PCR, with the flexibility of a self-contained, single use (disposable) design that requires no external power, and in an easy-to-use format for point of care non-laboratory trained personnel.

For more information on the Medilink UK Healthcare Business Awards in association with Med-Tech Innovation, visit med-techawards.com.

Med-Tech Innovation Expo takes place on 8-9 June 2022 at The NEC, Birmingham. Find out more at med-techexpo.com.