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Two Loughborough University spin out companies win first ever Lord Stafford Awards for the East Midlands

Posted on 29/12/2008

Loughborough University Website

Two Loughborough University spin out companies win first ever Lord Stafford Awards for the East Midlands

Two Loughborough University spin out companies have won prestigious new regional awards for innovation.

The two Loughborough inventions, a handheld screening device to detect the early signs of heart disease and stroke, and interactive playground equipment to engage the ‘Playstation generation’, received two of the three awards presented last week by Lord Digby Jones, Minister for Trade & Investment. The Lord Stafford Awards East Midlands were launched earlier this year to reward innovative partnerships between the region’s universities and business community.

The Innovation in Development Award was received by Dr Vincent Crabtree of Loughborough spin out Dialog Devices and Professor Kamlesh Khunti of the University of Leicester for Padd, a quick and painless test to assess Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD) in primary care. PVD is a potentially fatal condition that affects over 90 million people worldwide. Vincent, an optical engineer from Loughborough University, developed Padd having been inspired by the plight of his grandfather, who died at 55 after having his leg amputated due to PVD. He founded Dialog Devices in 2003 and is working with Professor Khunti’s team to develop the technology and build on its success in clinical studies.

The Innovation Achieved Award was received by Dr Phil Hodgkins of Loughborough spin out Progressive Sports Technologies and Anna Seddon of Loughborough University for i.play, a solar-powered playground product that uses wireless gaming technology to encourage exercise that’s challenging and fun. Phil developed the i.play concept together with Professor Mike Caine, Director of Loughborough University’s Sports Technology Institute, as part of his PhD research that was jointly supervised by Professor Steve Rothberg, Dean of Engineering.     Pictured with Lord Stafford (left) and Lord Digby Jones (right) is Anna Seddon of Loughborough University and Dr Phil Hodgkins of Progressive Sports Technologies.