December 11, 2014 · IGG

VoiceItt Wins Philips Annual Innovation Fellows Competition

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talkitt blog imageThe 2nd Annual Philips Innovations Fellows Competition has just announced their grand prize winner! Philips: the global leader in healthcare, wellness, and lighting—in partnership with Indiegogo—developed this competition in order to identify and support the next great innovations in health and well being.

Five finalists were chosen in November to receive $10,000 each in prize money. One winner, selected by Philips employees, was chosen and awarded an additional $50,000 in prize money as well as dedicated mentoring from Philips executives and relevant business leaders.

This year’s winner, Talkitt, is a new technology developed by Voiceitt that enables anyone with a speech disorder the ability to freely communicate—translating unintelligible communication into understandable speech. Talkitt works with any language and will be available on PCs, laptops, smartphones, and other wearable devices.

The impact can be huge: In the United States alone, there are approximately 7.5 million people who have difficulty communicating with others dues to speech disorders. Talkitt has the potential to improve the lives of millions.

Other 2014 competition finalists include:

LeefH2: a device that reduces particulate matter emissions in diesel engines in order to improve air quality and human health worldwide.

Miraclefeet: a low-cost foot brace designed to treat clubfoot in low-resource settings.

Sweet Bites: a chewing gum that can prevent tooth decay in impoverished children.

X-Fingers: the first functional prosthetic fingers for children.

Last year’s contest winner was the Maji IV Bag created by Fosmo Med. The Miji IV Bag creates a sterile saline solution for the treatment of cholera patients around the world. It can be used with any available water source. The Masji IV Bag, with support from Philips, has completed their research and development phase and has now been submitted to the FDA for approval. This product has the potential to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Cholera patients each year.

Indiegogo is a way for people all over the world to join forces to make ideas happen. Together, Philips North America and Indiegogo have been able to create a model in which other global companies can leverage their resources to empower the next great innovative projects that will change the way we live our lives, for the better.

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