Epilepsy Innovation Institute

 

Our purpose is to continuously drive transformational innovation in the way we diagnose and treat epilepsy, by encouraging and supporting radical new ideas and incorporating novel expertise and technologies from other fields of science.

Ei2 will seek to solve the challenges and remove the roadblocks that stand in the way of meeting the needs of people living with epilepsy.

Engage

Challenges will be selected by gathering and assessing input from all stakeholders, people living with epilepsy, caregivers, researchers, healthcare providers and industry colleagues.

Imagine

We take an interdisciplinary approach to spark innovative ideas leading to transformative solutions.

Implement

From Lab to Life: We fund solutions and build effective partnerships to address the challenges people living with epilepsy face every day.

We embrace risk. We seek knowledge.
We accelerate the future.
We are Ei2

Click Here for the My Seizure Gauge Initiative

Click here for the My Brain Map Initiative

More than 20 years ago, 30% of people living with epilepsy could not effectively control their seizures. Today, over a dozen new drugs are available. These drugs have reduced side effects, but the number of people living with uncontrolled seizures remains the same.

It is time to shake up the system with a new approach. Let’s change the system. Together.

The Epilepsy Innovation Institute's Platform. First, we select a topic. Through patient and caregiver surveys, we define which areas to tackle first. Second, we define the challenge. Through Innovation Workshops bringing different disciplines together, we assess the major scientific roadblocks to addressing the unmet needs of people living with epilepsy. Third, we fund solutions. We support multi-disciplinary teams to tackle the defined scientific roadblocks. One million dollars per year for up to three years. Fourth and finally, we provide mentorship. We provide our Solution Teams with support and specialized expertise throughout the process.

Any project we tackle will have the following six criteria

People-centric
People are core to our purpose, and we must ensure the impact of any solution directly relates to the community we serve.

Impactful
Our solutions focus on solving a substantial unmet need in the epilepsy community. Our goal is to bring new ideas into the research and clinical pipeline; therefore, we are willing to take on a high level of risk in exchange for the potential to have a transformative impact.

Boldly Innovative
Projects will either focus on bringing technologies and approaches outside the field into the epilepsy space or on developing completely new technologies and approaches to solve a major roadblock to advancing epilepsy research and care.

Early Development
Initial funding of solutions will be in the early stages of therapy development. For example, these solutions could focus on developing technologies, new protocols, testing a paradigm-shifting hypothesis, or establishing a new mechanism for seizure generation/epileptogenesis. If successful, we are committed to help move the project forward.

Multi-disciplinary
Solutions should bring together epilepsy and other disciplinary leaders to encourage the exchange of ideas and expertise to foster innovation and promote collaboration. Therefore, the team must identify two team leads from different disciplines that will commit to running the project together. For example, there may be a basic scientist working with an engineer or an epilepsy clinician working with a material sciences expert.

Knowledge-creating
Solution teams should produce new and relevant knowledge that contributes to the advancement of the overall field of epilepsy that future challenges can leverage. We are committed to learning from every attempt.

We will use the following eight Key Performance Indicators as metrics for success

In the short-term:

  1. The number of new researchers engaged in epilepsy research
  2. The number of newly formed collaborations
  3. The ability to obtain more funding support for the Ei2
  4. Failing effectively: As we cannot expect all the big bets to pay off, we will want to make sure that our time to failure rate is low. Therefore, our goal is to identify and tackle the biggest scientific roadblocks first.
  5. Number of lessons learned: Even when a project fails, what did we learn from the attempt?
  6. Timely updates to the community regarding Ei2 progress
  7. Track project milestones/failure points

In the long-term:

  1. We will track the number of solutions that made it to the market, the number of patents issued, the number of papers published, and the number of people with epilepsy impacted by the solution

Resources

Epilepsy Centers

Epilepsy centers provide you with a team of specialists to help you diagnose your epilepsy and explore treatment options.

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Epilepsy Medication

Find in-depth information on anti-seizure medications so you know what to ask your doctor.

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Epilepsy and Seizures 24/7 Helpline

Call our Epilepsy and Seizures 24/7 Helpline and talk with an epilepsy information specialist or submit a question online.

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Tools & Resources

Get information, tips, and more to help you manage your epilepsy.

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