VIRGINIA BEACH, VA July 11, 2013 Hillier Ignite, an organization dedicated to promoting democracy and freedom by creating economic opportunity, today announced the recipients of the Ignite Warrior for Warriors Award and the Ignite Lifesaving Innovation Award for 2013.
The Ignite award annually recognizes and rewards outstanding achievements tied to each of Hillier Ignite’s core focus areas: entrepreneurs/innovation, youth, and active duty military and their families. The Ignite Lifesaving Innovation Award recognizes the company responsible for creating and introducing a product that Hillier Ignite has judged to be the year’s most significant lifesaving innovation; the Ignite Youth Award recognizes a person or organization that has taught and inspired disadvantaged youth; and the Ignite Warrior for Warriors Award recognizes a person or organization that has provided significant support to veterans in overcoming the challenges related to the transition to civilian life or the challenges faced by military families. The Ignite Warrior for Warriors Award and Ignite Youth Award both include an unrestricted grant of $25,000. The Ignite Youth Award will be presented later in 2013.
An important goal of Hillier Ignite is to encourage greater entrepreneurship and innovation towards initiatives that can save lives – particularly those of our warfighters. The Ignite Lifesaving Innovation Award is part of the organization’s effort to ignite this movement, by recognizing an outstanding product and the people behind it. The inaugural Hillier Ignite Lifesaving Innovation award was presented to InfraScan, for its Infrascanner 2000, a portable screening device that uses Near-Infrared (NIR) technology to screen patients for intracranial bleeding.
“Traumatic brain injury touches many veterans and military families. For those injured far from the diagnostic machines available in hospitals, fast and accurate assessment of the impact of head trauma can be the difference between life and death, said Luke Hillier, Founder and President of Hillier Ignite. “The Infrascanner 2000 is the lifesaving innovation that makes this possible, within minutes, and as with many great innovations, it has both military and civilian applications.”
“InfraScan is honored to receive the Ignite Lifesaving Innovation Award for the Infrascanner Model 2000,” said Dr. Baruch Ben Dor, Chief Executive Officer of InfraScan. “The Infrascanner is a result of a hard work of a team of entrepreneurs in collaboration with local universities, the state of Pennsylvania and the US Navy and Marines. Entrepreneurship is not only driving the economy and creating businesses, but it is also the means to move lifesaving innovations from laboratory bench to patient bedside.”