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

这一区域创新引擎发展奖的重点是在佐治亚州建立一个创新生态系统，计划将其扩展到周围的东南部各州，开发和转化负担得起的、广泛可用的设备，这些设备可以在日常生活中轻松佩戴或使用，以促进每个人的健康和福祉，特别是那些服务不足的社区的人。东南部的预期寿命和其他健康结果是美国最低的，使其成为这一潜在引擎的主要地区。这项活动成功的关键是城乡不同社区的紧密结合和参与，以告知和开发可在护理地点使用的设备。这些社区用户群体将通过严格的需求评估计划帮助定义技术需求，为最终推动以使用为灵感的研究、教育和劳动力发展的征集提供技术路线图。经过翻译并投入商业使用的技术将直接应用于该地区同一个不同的用户群体。埃默里大学、佐治亚理工学院、佐治亚大学、莫尔豪斯医学院、全球卫生创新中心和佐治亚州技术学院系统的主要引擎合作伙伴都与这些不同的用户社区有着密切的联系。他们将建立在这些和行业关系的基础上，开发潜在的引擎。该发展奖将侧重于(1)建立一个合作伙伴生态系统，以推动受使用启发的研究和技术转化，在护理点诊断和可穿戴设备领域，社区的大力参与，以促进健康公平；(2)从医疗保健的角度，扩大与脆弱和服务不足的佐治亚州社区的现有关系，并在所有利益攸关方的投入下，制定初步的受使用启发的技术路线图，将在后续阶段扩展到邻近各州；(3)建立一年一度的技术展示活动，通过突出护理点式医疗设备的发展，并将研究人员、医疗保健专业人员、行业领袖、政府、社区领袖和技术资助者聚集在一起，推动技术转化；以及(4)根据行业和社区的意见制定全面的教育和劳动力发展计划。通过其具体计划，发展奖将填补目前在社区代表、行业参与和技术翻译资源方面的空白。因此，它将使团队为完整的NSF工程师做好准备。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.