NFL awards a Montreal start-up $550,000 to work on its design for a safer football helmet
Despite having no expertise in football helmets only two years ago, a Montreal start-up, KOLLIDE, has just scored big, winning a $550,000 grant from the National Football League (NFL) to advance its design of a new helmet they hope will ultimately help reduce the risk of concussions during games.
“Yes, it’s super exciting. We're proud of this collaborative entrepreneurship spirit that we have in Quebec,” said KOLLIDE research coordinator Franck Le Navéaux, who said the award is even more gratifying because they were up against other companies that had manufacturing experience.
Add to that, the challenge of working on their designs and contributions independently and meeting only virtually for 10 months straight during a pandemic.
As well as having the tenacity to form a 12-member start-up company from four smaller start-ups -- coming together at the last minute just to form KOLLIDE -- and there is much for them to savour about this first success.
All the submissions to the NHL were judged by a panel that included former NFL players and experts in the engineering, biomechanics, neurology, and sports business.
Along with KOLLIDE which began its project in 2019, two American businesses -- one based in Denver, Colorado, the other in Detroit, Michigan -- were also selected to receive funding after competing in the $3 million NFL Helmet Challenge.
“They are our competitors but we are all sharing the same goal and it's great to see that this challenge, broad innovation will be translated on the field,” Le Naveaux said.
The competing novel helmets were judged on their ability to reduce the severity of impacts, among other criteria.
The Canadian Football league (CFL) told CTV News in a statement it was aware of the initiative and supports the development of new helmets and equipment.
“If approved by the various regulatory bodies for use in football, the league would look into making them available to our players,” wrote Lucas Barrett, director of communications and public affairs for the CFL.
The KOLLIDE prototype features a helmet liner that is made of 3D printed pads that look like foam, but have an “architecture,” a particular structure, explained Le Naveaux, who has a background in the medical device industry.
The liner would be custom fitted to a player’s head with the 3D printed pads woven together into “a net,” to theoretically allow the wearer to sustain “18 different impacts in different directions,” he said.
The idea is that the flexible liner would absorb the energy of the impact, instead of the football player’s skull, “limiting both the linear and rotational accelerations transmitted to the head,” according to a statement from the start-up.
The KOLLIDE team member said since their design isn’t officially approved for use they can’t yet vouch for its effectiveness when it comes to reducing the number of head injuries sustained by players during pro football games.
However, he said their prototype “outperformed the current helmets on the market,” based on laboratory testing the NHL and its partners carry out annually to assess and rank helmets on the market.
That performance success was also enjoyed by other competitors.
“NFL Helmet Challenge submissions achieved up to a 13 per cent improvement above the top-performing helmet currently worn in the NFL,” the league said in a statement issued on Monday.
It appears that may bode well for the future of concussion prevention improvements in the NFL as the league also said this improvement rate is “more than four times what is typically seen annually in new helmet designs.”
With their funding coffers replenished, the KOLLIDE team wants to push its proof of concept even further to put their Montreal start-up on the map, but also to try and help other types of athletes.
“I'm a former boxer, so I can speak about the competition issues,” said Le Naveaux.
“Really what we have demonstrated with our technology in helmets,” he said, is that they can also apply their ideas to other sports that require an advanced level of protection against traumatic brain injury.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire' are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Two killed after collision with truck on Hwy. 417 near Limoges, Ont.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
‘We made them safer and more fun’: Here’s what’s new about e-scooters
Electric scooters (e-scooters) have been gaining popularity in the capital and this season comes with some changes and updates.
Houston braces for flooding to worsen in wake of storms
High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing hundreds of people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Canadian Auger-Aliassime reaches first Masters final in Madrid with another walkover
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to his first ATP Masters final, and he hasn't had to play all that much tennis to do it.
Drew Carey is never quitting 'The Price Is Right'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
The UN warns Sudan's warring parties that Darfur risks starvation and death if aid isn't allowed in
The United Nations food agency warned Sudan's warring parties Friday that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don't allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.