Co-Lab Disability Incubator Award winners

Following evaluation and voting by a panel of expert judges, Co-Lab is delighted to announce that Tom Clarke and Tim English are the winners of the $10,000 prize for the ACU Co-Lab Disability Incubator Awards for 2022.

Tom and Timothy’s pitch was for their app Metaboly, which provides clients with type 2 diabetes with ongoing guidance on exercise and dietary plans. The clinically supported program is easy and fun to stick to, teaches clients how to manage their condition and keeps them connected to their clinicians.

Metaboly makes type 2 diabetes treatment more scalable for clinicians and accessible for clients. Currently, exercise physiologists and their clients are relying on an archaic paper-based system that fails to empower clients with the accountability, incentive and education they need to make progress.

The consequences of this potential breakdown in care are multiplied exponentially for clients with disabilities, with up to 65 per cent of people with a disability not getting enough physical activity (AIHW, 2022 and Richarson et al., 2016).

Metaboly extends the power of clinicians and saves them up to 10 hours a week, giving them more time to track and treat clients. The flagging system detects clients who are at risk of dropping off, so clinicians can intervene. This improves adherence for clients and retention for clinics.

“One of the obstacles when starting a health tech company can be navigating the complex web of health care regulations and subsidies. The Co-Lab Disability Incubator provided us with valuable insight on how these factors affect clinicians and clients.”

Second prize winners

The Co-Lab Disability Incubator Awards also offered a second prize of $5000. This was awarded to Tiffany Westphal and Louise Rogers for their pitch video for a national online parent peer support group, School Can’t Australia. The group supports parents of children with a variety of learning difficulties and who may struggle to attend school.

It's estimated that nearly 70 per cent of the parents and carers currently in the group have children with a disability.

After eight years and with membership doubling in the past year to over 7,000, it is time for the group to move on from being a volunteer-run organisation to ensure its ongoing viability. Changing to a NFP business structure will enable School Can't (SPSR) Australia to apply for grants, continue to support parents and develop education materials for clinicians and schools based on the group's lived experience.

“We attended the ACU Disability Incubator series on behalf of School Can’t Australia and we enjoyed the content and delivery as well as the opportunity to network with others and hear their ideas for assisting those with disability to live their best lives. We are thrilled to receive second prize on behalf of their group.”

View Louise and Tiffany’s video pitch

The Co-Lab team were thrilled with the range and quality of innovative ideas from budding entrepreneurs. We would like to thank all entrants for their participation in the initiative, particularly for their time in researching, practising and recording their pitch video.

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