Okanagan company secures Canadian Government funding to launch new sport performance training and precision medicine products.
XCO Tech Inc. is developing breakthrough products for sport performance training and concussion assessment using its proprietary technology that provides insightful digital biomarkers to better guide training, rehabilitation and treatment.
The commercial promise of XCO Tech Inc.’s innovative technology that precisely analyzes human motion, biometrics and cognition has been endorsed by the Federal government with $800,000 of funding from the Western Innovation (WINN) initiative, a program of Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD).
The WINN announcement was made today in Vancouver and at XCO’s offices in Penticton’s Centre of Excellence.
In Penticton, the Honourable Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Minister Sajjan said the $800,000 in funding will help XCO commercialize its proprietary wearable XPS TM and BioAnalytics TM technologies to deliver an innovative sport performance training and rehabilitation product together with a comprehensive concussion assessment system.
XCO’s products are enabled by the Company’s technology platform which fuse motion tracking outcome measures with biometrics and cognitive digital biomarkers to provide objective insight into human performance and health. Minister Sajjan also said these solutions will enhance the performance of athletes in professional and amateur sports, as well as, aid in the treatment and rehabilitation of concussed and injured individuals.
Scott McMillan, CEO of XCO, said the WINN funding complements the financial support from other government programs and from the Company’s private investors. The funding will accelerate the Company’s testing and manufacturing of the sport performance and concussion products and as a result, XCO is on track to achieve its goals of commercial market introduction in 2019.
“The WINN funding by the federal government is a vote of confidence in our vision to help every athlete achieve breakthrough performance, improve safety in sports and have a real impact on patients’ health by using objective data to accurately assess those individuals,” McMillan said.
Details of WINN funding
The $800,000 from WINN combined with the same amount of private investment, will be dedicated to XCO’s product market launch. XCO is also eligible to apply to WD for an additional $9.2 million in WINN funding over the next five years to further advance the products or launch new products to address additional sport, rehabilitation and healthcare market needs.
About XCO Tech Inc.
XCO is a private Canadian technology company focused on enhancing athletic performance, concussion recovery, injury assessment and chronic disease management using precise digital biomarkers. The digital biomarker data is used to better inform training, rehabilitation and treatment. The Company’s Precision Medicine and Human Performance Platform includes proprietary XPS™ wearable technology and data BioAnalytics™ which fuse world-leading motion tracking capabilities with multiple biometrics and cognitive outcome measures, offering a real-time assessment that is both highly individualized and easy to use.
Pre-commercial versions of the Company’s technology were tested by the Canadian National Short Track Speed Skating team and in the training of youth soccer players that aspire to be tomorrow’s sport stars. All of XCO’s products are being held to a high standard and for that reason they are undergoing thorough evaluations at the world renowned Human Performance Lab at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Jack Taunton, one of the pioneers of Canadian sports medicine and the Chief Medical Officer at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics recognizes XCO’s dedication to precision:
“XCO’s technology is a rare find. There are many wearable devices that claim to be accurate and valid, however, in practice they end up being very limited in capability or practicality. XCO has addressed both of these issues in their development. I am impressed with the level of precision the system provides and the relative ease at which athletes can be tested or monitored. Movement tracking in combination with the biometric monitoring will help sport doctors, physiotherapists, researchers, coaches and teams. I can confidently say that the data obtained by XCO’s products will be of value across a wide variety of sports and activities. It has tremendous potential.”
XCO has also initiated the formation of a BioAnalytics™ consortium consisting of researchers and industry partners from a number of Canada’s leading research institutions. One of the many reasons such prominent groups wish to work with the company’s technologies and products is reflected by Dr. Keith Yeates’ comment, a neuropsychologist and specialist in pediatric brain injury at the University of Calgary:
“Precise systems are not portable and portable systems are not precise. We need objective tools that are both portable and precise.” The Human Performance and Precision Medicine platform being developed by XCO has also garnered international attention. Over the last year the Company has been working alongside European and South Korean partners such as IMEC, NXP, Siemens and The Neighbour System to deliver objective assessments of frailty in cardiovascular patients and seamless data access to care teams of patients struggling with heart failure, undergoing TAVI heart operations or for those in rehabilitation following myocardial infarction. For more information, please visit the project’s website.
For more information please contact:
Scott McMillan, CEO
XCO Tech Inc.
scott.mcmillan@xco.io
250-486-5668
https://xco.io
