Prothesia, a Mexican startup offering a digital manufacturing platform for braces and artificial limbs, has won the national round of the 2019 Everis Award, a milestone for this startup. It will receive 1,000,000 Pesos, support from mentors, and a place in the global round of the competition, which will be held in Spain.

At the global entrepreneurship awards of the Everis Foundation, Prothesia will be up against the best startups from several countries for a prize of 60,000 Euros (about 1,287,960 Mexican Pesos) and mentoring to develop its project.

“This is a really significant achievement! It also gives us the opportunity to improve our platform and the ability to begin research into artificial intelligence, as we’re looking at how to automate our design process. Basically, it will boost our research and development and, in turn, give us a quicker path to market,” enthused Francisco Javier Valencia Valdespino, Project Leader, to Tec Review.

 Personalized artificial limbs quickly and cheaply

“Prothesia is a digital manufacturing platform for artificial limbs and braces. We use mobile 3D scanning technology, an application for prescribing artificial limbs and braces, and a biomechanical correction algorithm,” said the entrepreneur.

This startup, created by Tecnológico de Monterrey mechatronics students from its Monterrey campus, facilitates 3D printing of these “fully personalized devices, because the problem with the traditional method is that it’s very small-scale, very archaic, and there isn’t yet a standardized method for making them.”

“What we do is scan patients’ limbs using a camera from any smartphone or tablet and use our corrective algorithm to make all the modifications necessary for correction, depending on the pathology,” added Valencia Valdespino.

In this way, Prothesia “reduces the cost by approximately 50% and the time too, because we’ve seen that the traditional process can take up to 30 days. We can do it in 48 hours,” he said.

The entrepreneur clarified that the project creates these tools for healthcare professionals, such as prosthetists and orthopedic surgeons, who are in charge of creating the apparatuses. “We give them the tools so that we can expand by focusing on the software,” he concluded.

What are the Everis Awards?

Everis is a company from the NTT DATA Company group, a firm specializing in consultancy and outsourcing with a presence in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Since 2001, Everis has had a foundation whose aim is to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit, encourage innovation, and foster talent.

The Everis Awards are a product of this mission. Every year, they recognize the best startup (which is at least at the prototyping phase) from the zones in which the foundation operates.

Since 2016, a national round has been held in Mexico to find outstanding startups with social impact in one of three categories: Industrial Technologies; New business models in the Digital Economy; and Biotechnology and Health.

“For instance, the winner the first year was Julián Ríos with Eva, a brassiere capable of detecting breast cancer, which was a project in the Biotechnology and Health category. The second year, we had a winner in the New business models in the Digital Economy category, which was Finerio, a personal finance, budgeting and money managing application,” said Madián Morante Lara, of Everis Foundation Mexico.

As regards the features they’re looking for in participants, she said, “it has to be a project with scaling capacity, that can become a very good business, that has a market in mind, and that solves one of the problems occurring in society. It has to be innovative. Entrepreneurs also have to be able to communicate their ideas, they have to know how to sell.”

The decision was made by a “great panel consisting of Everis directors, including Luis Téllez Kuenzler, President of Everis Mexico, and Peter Kroll, CEO of Everis Mexico; some of our clients; and leaders from the entrepreneurial world,” emphasized Morante Lara.

High impact Mexican ideas

We took the opportunity to talk to the other finalists during the national round of the 2019 Everis Awards in Mexico City. Let’s get to know them:

Photovoltaic concrete

Project Leader: Euxis Kismet Sierra Márquez

This startup is developing prefabricated concrete slabs that work as a kind of solar panel, generating electricity from light.

EARTH-IoT

Project Leader: Ángeles Marcial Mejía

Earth-IoT wants to democratize digitalization of the countryside to improve agricultural practices and reduce losses. It’s doing so through a platform called agriculture 4.0.

Hemograph

Project Leader: Alberto Hugo Deloya Vélez

Hemograph is a mobile application which can perform blood tests by using only the rear camera of a smartphone, with the aid of artificial intelligence.

HikeOn

Project Leader: Rodrigo Molina Trejo

This startup offers a bracelet that reduces the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, such as tremors, rigidity, and freezing.

 INNOX

Project Leader: Thomas Antoine Espinoza López

INNOX is an antipollution paint based on nanotechnology. This product is capable of absorbing greenhouse gases and degrading them into salts.

Masi-Epoxi

Project Leader: Francisco Emiliano Solís Aguirre

This startup has presented a material for repairing fractures in the skull and other bones in a way that is simplified, reliable, aesthetically pleasing, and permanent.

Nanotutt

Project Leader: Tessy María López Goerne

Nanotutt is the creator of NoanoGel, a nanotechnological antiseptic that fully heals chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot.

Warehome

Project Leader: Guillermo Morales Macías

This is a sharing economy platform that connects people who need to store goods or items with others who have empty spaces in homes or offices.

Learn more about the Everis Awards, Eva, and Finerio here and here.