VA names NeuroFlow a winner in $20 million Mission Daybreak grand challenge to reduce Veteran suicides
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has named NeuroFlow as a winner in Mission Daybreak — a $20 million challenge designed to help the VA develop new suicide prevention strategies for Veterans. As a winner, NeuroFlow will receive $500,000.
NeuroFlow’s configurable technology platform is designed to identify early warning signs of depression, anxiety, and other mental health symptoms and provide appropriate resources and high-touch interventions in high risk situations. Used by the Department of Defense and other government organizations, the platform can be part of a supported self-management regimen for those looking to improve awareness of mental health and build resiliency. Importantly, the technology has a built-in alert system for routing those in crisis to emergency services, with a critically needed feedback loop that shares insights back to care teams.
From May to July 2022, Phase 1 of the challenge received 1,371 concept submissions from solvers that included Veterans, Veteran service organizations (VSOs), community-based organizations, health tech companies, startups, and universities. Multidisciplinary panels of reviewers and judges assessed submissions according to the evaluation criteria.
“We want Veterans, service members, and their families to know that they do not need to fight in
silence. There are people and tools available to help before problems get worse,” said
NeuroFlow Vice President of Clinical Operations and US Army Veteran Matt Miclette, MPH RN. “Suicide must not be a taboo if we’re to address it together. We’re grateful for the work of Luminary Labs and the VA, teaming up to devote the necessary time and resources to this challenge. We are humbled, coming from our military roots, to be among these incredible awardees that have identified novel ways to address suicide within the U.S. healthcare system today.”
Following Phase 1, 30 challenge finalists each received $250,000 and advanced to the Phase 2 virtual accelerator program, which helped them develop ambitious but achievable roadmaps for prototyping, iteration, testing, and evaluation. Technology partners supporting the accelerator included Amazon and Microsoft. In November 2022, finalists had the opportunity to speak about their solutions with challenge judges and representatives from VA, Veteran Service Organizations, Capitol Hill, and policy institutes at Demo Day, held at the Samsung Executive Briefing Center in Washington, D.C.
The multidisciplinary judging panel — representing a diversity of perspectives, from Veterans and clinicians to social workers and technical experts — evaluated submissions from the 30 finalists in Phase 2. The panel recommended the 10 winners based on the official evaluation criteria.
Following Mission Daybreak, VA may engage with select solutions through contracts, Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), or other partnership vehicles.
Visit MissionDaybreak.net for more information on the challenge.
