"The league announced on Friday at an innovation summit for the Super Bowl the next round in the HealthTECH Challenge series, a crowdsourced competition designed to accelerate the development of cutting-edge football helmets and new standards for player safety. The challenge invites inventors, engineers, startups, academic teams and established companies to improve the impact protection and design of football helmets through improvements to how facemasks absorb and reduce the effects of contact on the field."
"Most progress on helmet safety has come from improvements to the shell and padding, helping to reduce the overall rate of concussions. But this past season, 44% of in-game concussions resulted from impact to the player's facemask, up from 29% in 2015, according to data gathered by the NFL. "The rapid rate of innovation in helmet technology reflects how research and data can directly improve the level of safety across football," said Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president overseeing player health and safety."
An NFL-led HealthTECH Challenge seeks innovations to improve facemasks on football helmets to reduce concussions. The crowdsourced competition invites inventors, engineers, startups, academic teams and companies to enhance impact protection and facemask design to better absorb and reduce contact forces. Most recent safety gains came from shell and padding improvements, but the league reports 44% of in-game concussions this past season resulted from facemask impacts, up from 29% in 2015. Selected winners will receive up to $100,000 in aggregate funding and expert development support to move concepts from lab to field. The initiative aims to set new equipment standards and further lower injury rates.
Read at ESPN.com
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