Abertay student team shortlisted for Converge 2019

ABOVE: Jamie Bankhead of Konglomerate Games

A team of Abertay videogames students has been shortlisted for the prestigious Converge 2019 Awards.

Konglomerate Games, a game developer specialising in gamification in healthcare, has been nominated in the Impact Challenge category.

Konglomerate projects include Archipelayo, a series of mini-games designed for Project Fizzyo through UCL and in partnership with Microsoft. The current prototype has been designed around the Acapella, a handheld device which supports airway clearance and which sufferers of cystic fibrosis must use for their physiotherapy exercises.

As well as encouraging younger sufferers to complete their daily exercises, the game measures patients’ adherence to their treatment non-intrusively through analytics. The game has been designed to encourage the correct techniques for combating the disease’s progression and is fully customisable to the patient’s individual exercises and stage of treatment.

"The calibre of this year’s Converge finalists is proof positive that our Universities are playing a pivotal role in the enterprise agenda and are at the forefront of innovation for the public good." - Claudia Cavalluzzo, Converge Director

Overall the judging panel selected 18 finalists from 12 institutions across Scotland. They include prospective start-ups and spin-outs with women entrepreneurs strongly represented in the final shortlist (55%).

Finalists will now go head-to-head at the Converge Awards Final which takes place at the iconic V&A Dundee on 25 September. On the night, a prize package of equity-free cash and in-kind business support totalling £220,000 will be shared across three competition categories: Impact Challenge; Creative Challenge and Converge Challenge.

Converge Director, Claudia Cavalluzzo comments: “Entrepreneurship has never been more important that it is today, not just in terms of generating economic growth and creating jobs, but also as a solution to some of society’s most urgent challenges including climate change, social inclusion and public health.

"The calibre of this year’s Converge finalists is proof positive that our Universities are playing a pivotal role in the enterprise agenda and are at the forefront of innovation for the public good.

“At Converge we work collaboratively with all 18 of Scotland’s Universities, helping the most creative thinkers from academia to turn their discoveries and ideas into commercially viable businesses.

"We are delighted to be working with such a strong cohort of innovators and look forward to spring-boarding their success.”