Electroskip LLC is a Buffalo-based footwear electronics company with a patented biofeedback system for people with walking disabilities from such conditions as Parkinson’s Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, stroke and lower limb loss. The company started by working with dancers to trigger electronic beats and musical notes during performances but pivoted once it saw the medical benefits of its technology.
Electroskip Dances into Biofeedback Innovation
Description
With these vital steps completed, Electroskip is on the precipice of being able to offer its device, which it has recently named the Eskiptrainer, for sale to medical professionals. O’Neil has had meetings with a world-renowned expert in Parkinson’s and has discussed validation testing with the Institute for Human Performance at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. The company also has a committed team of consultants in place, including a physical therapist, an engineer and a sales consultant. It expects to make at least two of these individuals full-time employees and hire a third person with manufacturing skills once sales begin. Some manufacturing, including work on a new technology developed in part with two FuzeHub manufacturing grants, will take place in-house. And although the primary focus is on the medical market, the company is continuing to pursue the musical side of the business and has had talks with a major pop star.
Jamie O’Neil
Co-Inventor/CEO
The Challenge
Jamie O’Neil, co-inventor and CEO of Electroskip, and his team needed money to learn how to manufacture their product. They also needed to determine which medical device category was the right fit and go through the validation and testing process necessary to register it with the FDA as a turnkey medical device.
The Solution
Electroskip applied for FuzeHub’s 2019 Commercialization Competition and won a $50,000 prize. It used the money to work with its manufacturing partner, K-Technologies in Buffalo, on the design for manufacturing process. It also hired a Buffalo consulting firm, Guideline Medical, to determine that its product is best categorized as a Class II Biofeedback device and to assist it with testing, building out design controls and making the necessary filings with the FDA.
Outcomes / The Impact
With these vital steps completed, Electroskip is on the precipice of being able to offer its device, which it has recently named the Eskiptrainer, for sale to medical professionals. O’Neil has had meetings with a world-renowned expert in Parkinson’s and has discussed validation testing with the Institute for Human Performance at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. The company also has a committed team of consultants in place, including a physical therapist, an engineer and a sales consultant. It expects to make at least two of these individuals full-time employees and hire a third person with manufacturing skills once sales begin. Some manufacturing, including work on a new technology developed in part with two FuzeHub manufacturing grants, will take place in-house. And although the primary focus is on the medical market, the company is continuing to pursue the musical side of the business and has had talks with a major pop star.