Reflections from Bionics Queensland Challenge 2020 win - One Year On

THC Research David Painter, shares his thoughts and experiences one year on from winning the Bionics Queensland Challenge in the artificial intelligence (AI) enabled bionics category:

What has this meant for the project to win the Bionics Challenge category in 2020?

It was exciting for us to win the competition with our entry (AI-Enabled Spatial Assessment and Training System) in the artificial intelligence (AI) enabled bionics category! All the more so with AI becoming increasingly at the forefront in many aspects of our lives. Our technology uses real-time visualisation of virtual reality (VR) behavioural performance and is at the forefront of medical gaming applications. The win raised the public profile of our project, which led to new collaborations and opportunities for our technology. The win taught us more about how to commercialise our technology. The win raised public awareness of cognitive problems following brain injury, which are often hidden from view but have profound implications for individuals.

One year on from winning, how has the project progressed?

Like many others our project was disrupted due to the 2021 COVID pandemic lockdowns. In 2022, we reestablished our laboratory at Gold Coast University Hospital and established a new base at Logan Hospital. We were successful in our other funding applications, an NHMRC Ideas Grant (‘Dimensional Attention Modelling for Neglect Detection (DIAMOND): A novel application for brain injury’) and a Metro South Health Grant (Clinical and scientific assessment of an Attentional Atlas for mapping visuospatial attention in 3D virtual reality space in patients with brain injuries and other neurological conditions). We expanded our team and got to work in making our vision a reality. We have toured VR at Princess Alexandria Hospital and The Queensland Children’s Hospital and discovered new potential applications. We are all set to rollout practical, clinical, and scientific feasibility investigations.

Any project accomplishes to share?

Our team has devoted much time to technology development. The latest software represents an evolution on earlier prototypes informed by regular team discussions, extensive inhouse playtesting, patient pilot results, clinical feedback, and creative thought. We have made substantial improvements to system precision, accuracy, flexibility, data security, and performance. The system marries basic science and game design. The system looks set to provide accurate and detailed clinical diagnoses, which will inform our understanding of cognitive problems following brain injury and lead to new rehabilitation opportunities. We will soon further demonstrate proof of concept, practicality, and market appetite.

Words of advice for contestants involved in the 2nd Annual Bionics Qld Challenge?

I imagine that the competition will attract many groups from academia, and this was my team’s background coming into the competition. Academia is concerned with proof, argument, and deduction – the end result is too much focus on formal tests to establish evidence for the innovation. While an evidence base is critical long term, and a morally correct and essential approach, the slow wheels of the academic machine mean that you will be left far behind the competition. As one of our venture capitalist mentors put it – “Does it work? is an engineering question that will be solved with enough time and resources allocated to the problem. Whether anyone will pay for the innovation is what separates an exciting research project from a sustainable business venture that will maximise accessibility for end users.”. Prioritise your market research including analysing the competitive landscape of other companies that operate in the space, and look at your key differentiators, those elements that make your innovation worthwhile and distinct from the crowd. Gather thoughts from key opinion leaders and decision makers who will greatly influence whether the business is likely to get off the ground. Good luck and have fun!

Figure 1. The AI-Enabled Spatial Assessment and Training System is a virtual reality (VR) game designed for rehabilitation of cognitive problems following brain injury. The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict and improve spatial attention in real-time as pe