Taiwan team enters finals for Tricorder XPRIZE

2016/12/15

A team comprising more than 30 engineers, physicians and scientists from Taiwan is one of two finalists in the US$10 million Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, an international competition challenging teams to develop a next-generation mobile medical diagnostic device.

The Taiwan team, dubbed the Dynamical Biomarkers Group, is led by Peng Chung-kang, K.T. Li chair professor of National Central University in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City and former dean of the NCU College of Health Sciences and Technology. It has collaborated with several local medical institutions and HTC Corp., Taiwan’s leading smartphone producer.

DBG beat out five rivals from Canada, India and the U.K. to advance to the final stage of the competition, where they will compete against Frontier Medical Devices from the U.S.
Comprising a vital signs monitor, blood-urine test kit and scope module, DBG’s device can be wirelessly connected to a smartphone and allows users to carry out diagnostic tests through a simple and interactive screening process.

According to Hsu Tien, current dean of the NCU health sciences college, DBG’s strong showing reflects the tremendous research capabilities of Taiwan’s academic institutions, medical industry and practitioners.

“Based on the four medical examinations of traditional Chinese medicine—observing, listening, inquiring and feeling the pulse—our device leverages big data analysis and cloud computing to achieve a 95 percent accuracy rate,” he said. “It is hoped that the project will inspire more cross-disciplinary collaboration and help fast-track industrial upgrading in Taiwan.”

The system is undergoing clinical trial in the U.S., and is also being utilized in remote rural communities in Taiwan. It was also used to diagnose more than 150 patients during a recent medical mission to Republic of China (Taiwan) diplomatic ally Fiji.

Consumer testing of the two teams’ devices will take place at the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute at the University of California, San Diego until next spring, when US$6 million will be awarded to the winner and US$2 million to the runner-up. A US$1 million prize will also be given to the team with the highest vital sign testing score. An additional US$1 million has already been awarded to teams that achieved various testing milestones.

The XPRIZE competition has been ongoing since its launch in 2012 by the Qualcomm Foundation and attracted more than 300 submissions from around the world. Inspired by the fictional tricorder, a multifunctional hand-held device utilized throughout the Star Trek TV series, the winning device must be able to diagnose 13 separate health conditions and continuously monitor five vital health metrics.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=250347&ctNode=2194&mp=9)