A project called the Mask Innovation Challenge announced 10 finalists in a high-prize competition that aims to support innovators and connect the groups trying to redesign high-quality masks that protect against COVID:
High-quality masks called respirators, such as N95s and KN95s, offer strong protection against the spread of COVID-19. But when it comes to comfort and convenience, there is certainly room for improvement. Masks fog up glasses. Wearing them for hours at a time can get sweaty and uncomfortable . Efficacy can vary a lot between brands. And when people cover half their face, it’s harder to read facial expressions and interact socially.
The Mask Innovation Challenge is run by Lippold and her colleagues at the Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures , part of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. After the competition was launched back in March 2021, nearly 1,500 submissions quickly poured in. To winnow them down to 40 finalists and 10 winners, Lippold’s team and some experts recruited as judges looked at four criteria.
For Phase 2, DRIVe reopened the contest: Phase 1 winners could reapply but so could new entrants—and the performance criteria were much higher this time around. “We’ve structured it in a way that really pushed the innovators to achieve very revolutionary changes with their products,” Lippold says. “We weren’t looking for incremental improvements. We were looking for things that were that were really going to move the needle.
This week BARDA named the 10 finalists of Phase 2. Of the 10 Phase 1 winners, only the five described earlier made the short list. The five new finalists include three transparent or semi-transparent designs: ClearMask, CrystalGuard and Matregenix Mask. There is also the strap-free ReadiMask, which uses an adhesive designed for skin to stick directly to the wearer’s face and thus avoids air leaks and fogging.
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