SkillPower Named Finalist in US Army xTechBOLT Competition

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SkillPower, innovative provider of digital health technology, today announced it was named a finalist in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) xTechBOLT competition. The announcement was made at the annual vIITSEC conference.

The USAMRDC's xTechBOLT competition focus area is Brain Operant Learning Technology. The solicitation stated as its goal: "to incentivize industry to develop and demonstrate the use of one or more tool(s) (e.g., QEEG, fMRI, MEG, BIOMRK, NIRS, PET, MEA, SPECT, or other) to locate, track, and trace four types of learning traits, including explicit and implicit knowledge, from exposure to storage, and use those neural pathways to capture emotions and empathy and research a proof of concept mechanism (software or hardware, or both) that could be developed to promote optimal retention and access to memories."

The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command is the Army's medical developer, with responsibility for medical research, development, and acquisition. The USAMRDC's expertise in these critical areas helps establish and maintain the capabilities the Army needs remain ready and lethal on the battlefield.

Participating companies presented concepts to increase US Army soldiers' ability to recall and execute complex life saving medical care on the battlefield when separated from regular medical personnel. Companies were also asked to provide concepts on preventing medical worker burnout. Five companies were selected as finalists and provided with budgets to develop working prototypes.

CEO John Hartman commented: "SkillPower is proud to be a part of the USAMRDC xTechBOLT and its mission to bring small business innovation to the Department of Defense (DoD). Our innovations from this R&D award will not only help the men and women of the military but will be used in commercial applications as well."

SkillPower is collaborating with University of California San Diego as its research partner. Dr. Bill Mobley, director of the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, joined SkillPower for the presentation. Sanford Institute is a leader in investigating and understanding the neurological basis for empathy in the brain in order to improve health outcomes and decrease medical worker burnout.

SkillPower's solution is a Virtual Reality (VR) avatar using machine learning to customize its training to the unique psychology and experiences of the user in a manner that creates more durable long-term memories. Judges for the competition came from diverse research backgrounds including the USAMRDC, the US Defense Health Agency and Georgia Tech University.

SkillPower was awarded a separate Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the United States Air Force earlier in the year. SkillPower completed all requirements of the contract and was awarded "single-source seller" status allowing the company to contract directly with any branch of the federal government without competitive bids.

More about the xTechBOLT competition can be found at https://www.arl.army.mil/xtechsearch/competitions/xtechBOLT.html

About SkillPower
SkillPower is an innovative digital health company focused on increasing success rates with health and fitness programs. SkillPower's digital health coaching platform uses the latest university research in behavioral psychology, neuroscience and nutrition to develop personalized behavior change programs for its users. SkillPower is a graduate of the Capital Factory Defense Academy Accelerator in Austin and the NexCubed Digital Health Accelerator in San Diego. The company works with UC San Diego as its research collaborator and is funded by Air Force Ventures. https://skillpower.io/

John Hartman
SkillPower
[email protected]

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