The SmartHEAL team from CEZAMAT won the James Dyson Award
Dominik Baraniecki MSc. Eng. , Tomasz Raczyński MSc. Eng. and Piotr Walter MSc. Eng. created an intelligent plaster for the diagnosis of the condition of chronic wounds – SmartHEAL. The team won the Polish edition of this year’s James Dyson Award.
SmartHEAL is an easy-to-use, non-invasive and inexpensive diagnostic tool for chronic wounds that allows you to instantly detect changes in pH correlated with inflammation and thus select the appropriate treatment, without removing the dressing. The pH measurement in SmartHEAL is based on an electrochemical sensor.
The wound exudate reaches two electrodes – the reference electrode and the indicator electrode with a layer sensitive to changes in the index level. The acidity or basicity of the reaction is determined from the difference in potential of the electrodes. Then, using the RFID antenna, the result will be read by the patient or medical staff.
This year’s winner of the national edition of the competition, SmartHeal, impressed us not only with the innovation of the proposed solution, but also with its enormous potential. This could revolutionize the way wounds are dressed and significantly improve patient comfort and safety. It is a very good project, which certainly has a chance to be awarded also at the international stage – comments Tomasz Łuczyński Ph.D., one of the members of the jury of this year’s edition of the competition.
The SmartHEAL team will receive financial support in the amount of PLN 27,000 . The obtained funds will help the team cover current operating expenses and the possibility of direct purchase of research materials, such as specialized bandages and dressings. This will allow for the adaptation of innovative technological processes to commonly used medical materials. The team is currently continuing work on the final prototype of a smart dressing.
The James Dyson Prize Competition is one of many efforts initiated by Sir James Dyson to show that inventors and engineers can change the world. The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology, the James Dyson Foundation and the James Dyson Award encourage young engineers to put their knowledge into practice and find new ways to improve our quality of life through technology.
To date, James Dyson has committed over £ 140m to supporting groundbreaking education and other good causes. The authors of over 300 inventions have already received support in the form of cash prizes. The James Dyson Award Competition is run by the James Dyson Foundation, a charity dedicated to supporting engineering education and funded by Dyson profits.