Darnaway duo secures £75,000 Scottish Edge funding to develop "Parkinson's glasses"

A business duo from Darnaway who developed a pair of ‘electronic trousers’ have successfully attracted funding in a new collaboration making “Parkinson’s glasses”.

Dave Powney and Jude Simms, together with GaitAR directors Scott McLeod and Michael Ryan have built prototype glasses which help people with Parkinson’s disease.

The new company, GaitAR, featured on STV News recently showing a sufferer trying the glasses and immediately feeling the benefit.

The funding comes from Scottish Edge 20, and the four discovered they had been successful last week at an award ceremony in Edinburgh on Wednesday opened by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Ground-breaking product

With over 260 Scottish entrepreneurs applying to Scottish Edge 20 this local company GaitAR scooped one of the top prizes of £75,000 for their innovative and ground-breaking product.

The discreet non-invasive glasses create a visual cue into the wearer’s field of vision which in turn improves posture gait and balance.

Initial pilot studies undertaken by Robert Gordon University showed significant improvements for the wearers and further testing is currently underway by Specialist Neuro Rehabilitation clinic Move4ward in Elgin, which is run by Dave and Jude

Scott McLeod said: “Securing this funding will allow us to further develop and test the product with clinicians worldwide.”

The duo run a physiotherapy consultancy Move4ward, and they successfully crowdfunded £10,000 to bring their ‘electronic trousers to market, a wearable ‘exoskeleton’, that stimulated muscles via an app, which helped people improve mobility after suffering from medical conditions such as a stoke.