The Benevolent Technologies for Health (BETH) Project’s low-cost prosthetic socket design was awarded the $10,000 Daniel M. Lewin Grand Prize in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MIT $100K Accelerate Contest, the second in the three-series MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The prize earned the team a spot in the third contest in the series, the Launch Contest, where the winner will receive $100,000. The results of the Launch Contest will be announced May 15, 2013.
Photograph of the BETH Project socket courtesy of the BETH Project.
According to the BETH Project page on Facebook, its launch product is an adjustable prosthetic socket made from an infinitely remoldable material. The BETH team members are Elizabeth Tsai, Asa Hammond, Jason Hill, and Ramin Abrishamian. Tsai received double majors in mechanical engineering and materials science with minors in biomedical engineering and political science, from MIT, and is now pursuing a master of science degree at the MIT Media Lab. Hammond is completing an undergraduate degree in physiological science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has a background in visual effects and media design. Hill is an experienced human factors researcher and industrial designer. He graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, in 2009 while completing a joint-study program in business administration at INSEAD Asia Campus, Singapore. Abrishamian is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist.
The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition awards more than $350,000 in prizes to aspiring entrepreneurs each year through participation in a series of three contests: the Pitch Contest, the Accelerate Contest, and the Launch Contest.
