Day: 3 April 2020

Ready for some good news in the midst of this extraordinary and challenging time? Remarkable, Australia’s first disability tech accelerator program, has announced the seven startups joining the 2020 cohort. This is Remarkable’s fifth cohort and the first program that will likely be entirely online. Startups this year are working on solving a diverse range of problems that have never been tackled through the accelerator before, – including a resuscitation medical device to prevent newborn mortality and disability, and hands-free sex tech for people with hand limitations.

Heather Morrison and Andrew Gurza, Co-Founders of handi, are taking on a problem that has rarely been considered. Andrew is a high profile advocate for the rights of people with disability in Canada. Andrew along with his sister, Heather are on a mission to make sexual pleasure accessible to all, by creating sex tech for people with disability. Sexual pleasure is a human right, but many people with disability cannot self-pleasure due to hand limitations. According to their research, 63% of people with a physical disability cited issues with dexterity, grip, muscle control and hand pain. handi’s solution is the first line of sex toys that don’t require the use of your hands.

Dr Mark Tracy and the team from ResusRight, are working on the prevention of the death and disability of newborn babies that may be caused by incorrect resuscitation after birth. Every year, around a million babies die in the delivery room due to birth asphyxia, and a similar number are left with life-long disabilities. Experts estimate that 30% of these deaths could have been prevented with more effective resuscitation of the infants. ResusRight is developing a new solution that is an inexpensive resuscitation monitor, capable of telling a clinician whether they are resuscitating an infant correctly.

Since March 2016, Remarkable has intensively supported 84 founders from 32 startups. Remarkable has already invested $815k in seed funding into startups and around $245k will be invested in 2020. The 2020 program commenced on 24 March with a two-day kickstart, conducted via video conference from the offices, living rooms and kitchens of the startups, mentors and the Remarkable team. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Remarkable team made the decision to move to a digital program two weeks ago and worked around the clock to transform what is normally a face-to-face program to being entirely online.

Pete Horsley, Founder of Remarkable says “We believe that innovation can thrive in challenging times. We are experiencing an unprecedented global crisis and we are doing our best to adapt, change and support our startups accelerate. This time of global change has magnified our mission to make the world more inclusive.”

“This year’s masterclasses, mentoring sessions and office hours will be conducted using video conferencing and making the most of many of the collaboration tools now available. Changing our program to digital has enabled us to think differently about how we engage, educate and effectively accelerate our startups.”

Pete said “This year, four of the seven startups have Founders/team members with a disability and almost half the startups have a female Founder. We strongly believe that diversity is critical for innovation. This year’s startups are some of the best we have seen and we look forward to seeing how they take on this challenge.”

Get to know our #SYD20 Startups

CPToys provides individualised therapy advice to therapists and families of children with cerebral palsy by matching toys to a child’s age and specific therapy goals.

A portable and affordable wheelchair accessory that enables people to get off-road and explore the great outdoors.

Sexual pleasure is a human right, but many disable people cannot self pleasure due to hand limitations. Handi believes everyone should be able to ‘get off’ and is creating the first line of sex toys that don’t require the use of your hands.

A voice enabled life assistant for young people living with paralysis. Maslow enables users to independently manage their care and rehab routines, communicate with health specialists, and access best practice health education where it matters most – at home.

Neurodiversity Media creates accessible information resources to empower the neurodivergent population to fulfil their potential through the dignity of work.

Working to prevent the death and disability of newborn babies who require resuscitation after birth through the development of an inexpensive resuscitation monitor.

George Miller is the newest member of the Remarkable team. While George only joined the Remarkable team a couple of weeks ago, he is already making a huge impact. We thought you’d like to get to know him a little more, so we asked George to tell us a bit about himself….

Tell us a bit about you and your background experience

I thrive from finding technical solutions to problems and pride myself on giving back time to others by creating sophisticated automation, systems, and tools with data at the core of all my decision making. I look at operations from a data and process standpoint knowing that with the right information, those around me can make better, more educated decisions.

Over the past five years, I have mastered the art of curating advanced process automation using tools such as Airtable and Zapier. I have given back thousands of hours to employees and have increased reliability and quality in the process.

My journey from an Engineering degree to Brand Marketing to Influencer Marketing and finally to Operations in startups has been a wild journey and despite there not being a clear link between each career move, I am proud to have knowledge and experience in so many key business functions.

What attracted you to work with Remarkable?

I am an entrepreneur at heart, have dreamed up many innovations myself and because of this, I am interested in the ecosystem and moreover how I can empower others to make their dreams a reality.

There are many accelerators out there but what struck me about Remarkable is the focus on disability tech – it unlocks creativity to a new level and in so many ways helps to unlock technological advances outside of its space.

I have always been passionate about giving back to others and not just in my operational expertise but also in many other areas of my life. I have become conscious that there are many others less fortunate than me, being able to help drive innovation to improve their quality of life is empowering and a way to use my skills and knowledge to give back.

What part of the program are you most looking forward to?

I’m a tech geek at heart, I love nothing more than having open brainstorms with others, hacking together experiments or prototypes and getting them into the wild. For me, the part of the program I am most excited about is seeing products out in the wild.

We’d love to get to know you a bit more, what do you like to do in your free time?

There is no question that outside of work I spend the majority of my time swimming, cycling and running as an avid triathlete. I am hugely passionate about the sport, the community and the ability to constantly push my body’s boundaries.

Aside from my life in triathlon, I enjoy travelling with my partner, going on long hikes in Australia’s national parks and enjoying time relaxing on the beach.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given in your work life that you would like to pass on to the startups?

1. Never make decisions without looking at the bigger picture. Thinking with an open, blue sky approach will unlock your greatest creativity and whilst the blue sky thinking may not be realistic in the real world, there is nothing wrong with aiming high.

2. Plan for the future. When building your product build it for the future, not the present. Think of what technology may be available in the future and how many product users you will have in years to come. This will mean you don’t outgrow yourself.

Do you have an inspiring book / podcast / tv show you would like to share with the startups and the Remarkable community?

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker – This book transformed my life in more ways than you could imagine. The typical 8 hours is not a myth, the science behind it is real and the benefits are huge. This book opened my mind to wonder more about the human brain and the effect our everyday decisions have on it.

Thanks George! Feel free to reach out to George on LinkedIn.