NFL, Under Armour and GE Seek Ideas to Accelerate Concussion Research, Prevention, Diagnosis & Treatment

BALTIMORE, Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --The NFL, Under Armour (UA) and GE (NYSE:GE) today launched Head Health Challenge II an open innovation challenge to award up to $10 million for new innovations and materials that can protect the brain from traumatic injury and for new tools for tracking head impacts in real time. The challenge is part of the Head Health Initiative, a collaboration to help speed diagnosis and improve treatment for mild traumatic brain injury.

Kevin Plank, Founder and CEO of Under Armour said: "As longstanding partners of the NFL and in collaboration with GE, we take great pride in our participation in the Head Health Challenge II. We are excited to harness the power of innovation and assemble the best minds in the world towards an effort to make the field of play safer across all sports and for all athletes."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said: "We are very pleased to have Under Armour join our work with GE to help accelerate progress and find better ways to protect the brain from injury. This is a perfect example of our shared commitment to making the culture of sports better and safer especially for young athletes."

Entries are being immediately accepted at http://www.headhealthchallenge.com. The deadline to submit entries is January 30, 2014. In September 2014 up to 10 winners will be selected for the chance to receive as much as $500,000 each. Up to five of the potential 10 finalists will be eligible to receive as much as $1,000,000 after the second phase of judging concludes. Please visit http://www.ninesights.com/community/nfl-ge-grand-challenge/process#/terms-conditions for Terms and Conditions.

Specific focus areas for Head Health Challenge II include:

I. Potential to Improve the Prevention and Identification of Brain Injuries

* Technology that demonstrates clear potential to quantify head impact in real time; detect, track or monitor biologic or physiological indicators of traumatic brain injury; protect the brain from traumatic injury; mitigate or prevent short or long-term consequences of brain trauma; assist in training to prevent traumatic brain injury.

II. Monitoring and Identifying Injury

* Technology that include, but are not limited to the following:

* Monitoring and integration of directional and rotational impact force into data.

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NFL, Under Armour and GE Seek Ideas to Accelerate Concussion Research, Prevention, Diagnosis & Treatment