SimpleC receives National Institutes of Health Fast Track SBIR grant

Atlanta, Ga. (June 18, 2012)—Atlanta-based health care technology innovator SimpleC has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The grant will fund nearly three years of development and implementation of a mobile therapy tool, the SimpleC Companion, designed to improve the well-being and care of older adults living at home with cognitive loss due to dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, or other brain diseases.

The SimpleC Companion is a touch-screen technology that promotes memory, engagement, and better communication for seniors without the use of medications. Depending on personal needs, preferences, and schedules, users see rich visual cues such as their own family photographs or images of things they have enjoyed in the past, and hear meaningful audio such as preferred pieces of music and personalized messages recorded by family members or a favorite caregiver, which stimulate positive memories and foster healthy daily routines.

SimpleC is a recent graduate of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a business accelerator for select technologies funded by the state of Georgia in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT). SimpleC received services from SBIR Georgia, an ATDC program, and is executing the grant in collaboration with GT professors Wendy Rogers and Jon Sanford, and University of Maryland professors Barbara Resnick and Elizabeth Galik. The project’s product development partner is Aptima, a human-centered engineering firm. Community implementation partners are Presbyterian Village in Austell, Ga.; St. George Village in Roswell, Ga.; and BrightStar of North Georgia. Studies will include seniors with impairments and their family caregivers as they use the Companion at home on a daily basis, which will spur product development.

“Research and science are a hallmark of our company, which makes us unique within the industry,” said Dan Pompilio, SimpleC Chief Executive Officer. “This commitment is essential to our pursuit of excellence, and we are grateful to the National Institutes of Health, especially the Institute on Aging, for recognizing and supporting SimpleC’s innovative work in improving the lives of seniors by filling an industry gap in delivering person-centered care.”