Made-in-Italy excellence and a reality with a high rate of innovation: with these motivations Omnidermal Biomedics, the start-up that treats ulcers with Artificial Intelligence received - in the presence of Republic President Sergio Mattarella - the Leonardo Start-up Award, assigned by the Leonardo Committee in collaboration with MISE and the ICE Agency.
Founded by researchers from Politecnico di Torino and incubated at I3P - Politecnico di Torino's Innovative Companies Incubator, Omnidermal Biomedics has developed the Wound Viewer, a medical device equipped with an AI algorithm capable of acquiring and processing images of skin ulcers: it can analyse depth, area, volume, tissue type (necrotic or granular), presence of infection and classify the type of ulcer non-invasively and with 94% reliability (clinically proven on more than 150 patients). The Wound Viewer is the only device on the market capable of guaranteeing a quantitative assessment of the pathology, generating a diagnosis and guaranteeing consecutive and comparative follow-up of the ulcer's healing evolution. In addition, the processed clinical data are organised in digitised medical records saved in a Cloud system, allowing the Wound Viewer to be used remotely by the patients themselves. "It is a diagnostic tool that supports healthcare professionals in the fields of angiology, vascular and general surgery in choosing the most suitable therapy with a consequent reduction of costs for healthcare systems," explains Jacopo Secco, co-founder of Omnidermal Biomedics. Skin ulcers now affect more than 2 million patients a year in Italy and are characterised by healing times that can exceed 5 years. The Wound Viewer can improve the quality of diagnosis and therapy, while also decreasing healthcare costs by more than 25%.
Leonardo Award 2018 is a recognition of quality and value of Italian companies awarded every year by the Comitato Leonardo, which was established in 1993 and aims to spread and strengthen Italy's image of excellence in the world. "We are happy and satisfied with this important award, which represents an important recognition of the efforts made in recent years. We would like to give special thanks", says Jacopo Secco, "to Politecnico di Torino and I3P, which have provided us with support and tools to carry out our research and create the Wound Viewer, and in particular to Professors Paolucci, Corinto and Demarchi, who have been our mentors along this path. For the future, we are working on building a standard of care for skin ulcers, which is absent to date".
"The recognition of Omnidermal Biomedics as a start-up with a high rate of innovation is for us not only a great source of pride but also a testimony of the fact that, when implemented, the process of technology transfer can offer great opportunities to young Italian innovators, connecting the world of academic research and the business market," adds Giuseppe Scellato, president of I3P - Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino.
Also present at the 2018 Leonardo Awards ceremony: Italian Premier Conte, Economic Development Minister Luigi Di Maio, Leonardo Committee President Luisa Todini, ICE Agency President Carlo Ferro and Confindustria President Vincenzo Boccia.