Boston Company Wins 2023 Cade Prize for Innovation

GAINESVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CranioSense, a Boston-based company, is the overall winner of the 2023 Cade Prize for Innovation. The company’s invention quickly and non-invasively measures pressure in the brain, often an early indicator of traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Currently, only 2% of people with suspected TBI are tested, because current tests are invasive and risky. If successful, CranioSense’s technology will dramatically increase the availability of TBI testing.

“The recognition of our vision by the Cade Museum is an enormous pillar of success for our young startup,” said CranioSense co-founder Ryan Myers. “The Cade Prize is both an acknowledgement and a source of momentum. The prize money will help us further refine our approach to the market, spread the word about CranioSense, and visit hospitals to get customer feedback.”

Named after the lead inventor of Gatorade, the annual $100,000 Cade Prize recognizes and rewards great ideas with commercial potential. Cade Museum co-founder Richard Miles said he was very pleased with the Prize’s transition from primarily a Florida prize to a national one, “We received applications from every part of the United States, and four of the five finalists were outside of Florida.” In keeping with the origins of Gatorade, the Prize targets university-based research. Dr. James Robert Cade, a doctor and researcher, led the team that invented the drink at the University of Florida in 1965 to treat football players suffering from dehydration and loss of electrolytes.

Along with four other category winners, CranioSense won an initial $10,000 cash prize for scoring the highest in the Healthcare and Biomedical category, competing with applications from 15 different states. On September 28, at the awards ceremony in Gainesville, FL, the team competed against the following four category winners to ultimately place as the overall winner.

• Agriculture and Environmental Winner ($10,000 prize): Terra Pave (Austin, TX) – Environmentally friendly replacements for concrete and asphalt roads, pavements, parking lots, and other hard surfaces.
• Energy Winner ($10,000 prize): Adaptive Hydro (Somerville, MA) – A way to electrify non-powered dams (existing dams that do not generate any power) across the US.
• IT/Tech Winner ($10,000 prize): Connected Wise (Orlando, FL) – Vision-based communication for vehicles through QR codes.
• Wildcard Winner ($10,000 prize): SpadXTech (Worcester, MA) – An alternative leather material that can be produced using less energy and chemicals, thus reducing emissions.

This year’s Cade Prize is sponsored by Community Foundation of North Central Florida, Scott R. MacKenzie, OneSixOne Ventures, Saliwanchik, Lloyd & Eisenschenk law firm, Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, The Florida High Tech Corridor, Florida Trend, and Aloft Gainesville University Area Hotel. Visit https://cademuseum.org/inventivity/cade-prize/ to learn more.

About the Cade Museum

The mission of the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida, is to transform communities by inspiring and equipping future inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. Named after Mary Cade and her husband, Dr. James Robert Cade, the lead inventor of Gatorade, the project since 2006 has been spearheaded by their daughter, Phoebe Cade Miles, and her husband, Richard Miles. The Cade encourages the development of innovation ecosystems through the Cade Prize for Innovation, the Cade's proprietary Innovation Education learning framework, and the 21,000-square-foot hands-on learning museum that promotes the development of an inventive mindset which the Cade calls Inventivity™. The Cade believes every person should have access to the right to invent and innovate and works to bring this understanding to all, with an emphasis on the underserved. To learn more, visit cademuseum.org.