VentureBeat and Edison Nation Medical Partner to Drive Innovation Around the Quantified-Self Movement

SAN FRANCISCO and CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Edison Nation Medical, the premier healthcare innovation marketplace, today announced a partnership with VentureBeat, the leading source for news and perspective on technology innovation with particular expertise in the healthcare sector. Through the partnership, the parties intend to uncover and commercialize disruptive inventions that capture meaningful consumer-generated health data, also known as quantified-self data, including inventions that better integrate that data into the clinical care system. According to U.K-based Juniper Research, the number of wearable devices, used for capturing consumer-generated health data, will rise from 15 million shipped in 2014 to 70 million in 2017, and the size of the market will jump from $1.4 billion to $19 billion.

Born out of collaboration between Edison Nation and Carolinas HealthCare System, the second largest public health system in the United States, Edison Nation Medical brings over 12 years of experience in successfully commercializing innovation ideas from individuals and small businesses. The partnership between Edison Nation Medical and VentureBeat provides a trusted avenue through which individual inventors and small businesses worldwide can have their adult and pediatric inventions evaluated by expert medical, technical and legal experts and potentially commercialized, to the benefit of patients and clinicians worldwide.

"Historically, there has been little connection between the health data collected by consumer wearables and the data needed and easily assimilated by clinicians," said Matt Marshall, Founder and CEO of VentureBeat. "The goal of partnering with Edison Nation Medical is to uncover game-changing inventions that will bridge this gap and catapult wearables from being used by a relatively small number of motivated individuals to instead being a critical component of every person's daily care and equally embraced by patients and clinicians alike."

The parties are co-sponsoring an innovation search, entitled Beyond Counting Steps, focused on identifying inventions from individual inventors and small businesses that enable the capture of meaningful consumer-generated health data to monitor key health metrics and conditions -- such as blood pressure, blood sugar, pollution levels, epilepsy seizures, sudden infant death syndrome. Inventions that enable that data to be fully embraced and integrated into the clinical care setting, overcoming obstacles such as data security, clinical relevance, information overload for clinicians, and data quality concerns are also welcome. Also within the scope of this search are inventions that allow clinicians to leapfrog current technologies for remote patient interaction and monitoring, such as email or fax; thus, increasing efficiency and effectiveness of patient care. Inventions that demonstrate proficient integration into Apple HealthKit, Google, Samsung S Health, Epic, athenahealth, PracticeFusion, CareCloud or other leading health system technologies are of particular interest.

"First-generation wearables brought awareness to the opportunity for patients to play a significant role in monitoring their own health and wellness, but we are just at the cusp of this exciting revolution in healthcare," stated Bobby Grajewski, President of Edison Nation Medical. "Through Edison Nation Medical's confidential open innovation platform and the tremendous global reach and prestige that VentureBeat brings to our relationship, we are confident we can uncover, validate and commercialize numerous inventions that will transform our industry and become a new standard of care."

Edison Nation Medical and VentureBeat encourage the submission of inventions involving devices, technologies or apps that can be utilized by any party within the healthcare continuum, including patients, clinicians, technicians, hospitals, caregivers and others. Joining Edison Nation Medical is free, and all inventions submitted through the company's confidential, secure online portal are held in the strictest confidence to protect each inventor's intellectual property. Edison Nation Medical carefully vets all ideas through an 8-stage evaluation process and Mark Sullivan and Robin Strongin, both leading experts from the health division of VentureBeat, will join the evaluation team to provide specific expertise on the dynamic quantified-self movement. The end goal of the Beyond Counting Steps innovation search is for Edison Nation Medical to globally commercialize each qualified invention on behalf of the inventor via licensing or company incubation. When successful, Edison Nation Medical shares all licensing royalties and revenues with the inventor. The search is open to the public, and individual inventors or small businesses worldwide are invited to submit inventions through Sunday, May 31, 2015.

For more information about the VentureBeat and Edison Nation Medical partnership or to submit an invention, please visit http://info.EdisonNationMedical.com/beyond-counting-steps.

About Edison Nation Medical
Edison Nation Medical is a healthcare innovation marketplace with deep expertise in open innovation, product development, and healthcare. Born out of collaboration with Carolinas HealthCare System (the second largest public health system in the United States), Edison Nation Medical's mission is to break down the barriers to healthcare innovation. We make this a reality by providing a clear and easy pathway through our open innovation platform for anyone – physicians, nurses, entrepreneurs, even patients and caregivers – to submit a medical invention for full evaluation and potential commercialization. Edison Nation Medical innovation headquarters is in Charlotte, NC with satellite offices in San Francisco and New York City. For more information, please visit www.EdisonNationMedical.com/about or find Edison Nation Medical on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About VentureBeat
Founded in 2006, VentureBeat is the leading source for news and perspective on technology innovation. Our news, analysis, and events provide deep context to help executives, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts make smart decisions. We aim to inform and inspire. Led by founder and CEO Matt Marshall, Editor-in-Chief Dylan Tweney, and a team of experienced journalists, VentureBeat covers a range of technology trends — from social to mobile, small business to enterprise, health tech, cloud, games, and more. For more information, please visit www.VentureBeat.com/about.

SOURCE Edison Nation Medical

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