SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH PROGRAM PROVIDES SEED FUNDING FOR R&D

Nashville, Tennessee, September 1, 2020 – Healing Innovations, a medical technology company, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $223,000 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on the company’s proprietary robotic technology. Healing Innovations’ flagship technology, the Rise&Walk™ InClinic, is a neurorehabilitation technology designed to help people recovering from neurological injuries walk again. The funds from the NSF grant will be used for R&D for exploratory applications of additional rehabilitation technology.  

“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs”.

“Healing Innovations will design a way to make robotic gait therapy more available and accessible to patients outside of a traditional clinical context. This engineering effort could help many people living with paralysis by increasing access to ongoing gait therapy, providing a community to connect and motivate patients, and ultimately reducing health care costs associated with neurological diagnoses”, stated Ben Taylor, a biomechanical engineer at Healing Innovations and the Primary Investigator on the NSF grant.  

“Our team is ecstatic at the opportunity that this NSF SBIR grant provides for our team as we continue to develop technology that positively impacts the lives of people recovering from neurological injuries” stated Braden Davidson, COO and Co-founder of Healing Innovations. “The support of NSF is critical for the early-stage development of new technology, and the future Phase II funding opportunity creates a clear commercialization pathway in Phase I is successful.”

About the National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.75 million to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.1 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.

Once a small business is awarded a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant (up to $256,000), it becomes eligible to apply for a Phase II grant (up to $1,000,000). Small businesses with Phase II grants are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program, also known as America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, undergo a rigorous merit-based review process.