Wigan entrepreneur scoops award for innovative medical ID sharing project

A young entrepreneur from Wigan has developed a creative medical innovation could help paramedics treat patients much quicker.

Rory O’Moore is using near-field communication and QR technology to develop smart ID products that could reduce the strain on ambulances by allowing users to share personal and medical information like allergies and emergency contacts.

The 21-year-old, from Abram, was inspired to launch his venture after drawing on personal experience.

“When I was born I had a brain haemorrhage, and because of that I lost my right field of peripheral vision in both eyes, meaning I have less than 50% sight", he said.

“When I started at uni, I moved to Manchester. I was getting into quite a lot of accidents like bumping into people, walking into lamp posts, because I literally can’t see out of the corner of my right eye. I would bump into people when out clubbing and they’d think I wanted to fight them.

“So it got me thinking, if I was involved in a serious accident because of my disability, and I wasn’t conscious, how would a paramedic identify [my disability], how to contact my parents, or what the cause was. That’s how I came up with the idea of having a smart device, which could bring up a medical profile in less than five seconds.”

The technology, tentatively called SHARE ID, is being developed to work as a small portable device, such as a wristband, key ring, card or necklace, containing a QR code or a chip which can be scanned by a phone to produce the wearer’s medical history and emergency contact details.

His idea is coming to fruition thanks to support from The Young Innovators Awards, which recognises young people from across the UK with great business ideas who have the potential to become successful entrepreneurs and future leaders in innovation.

Following an unprecedented level of entries for this year’s awards, Rory is one of 64 young people - and just one of seven from the North West - to earn the coveted award.

Rory and his fellow winners will each benefit from a £5,000 grant, one-on-one business coaching and an allowance to cover living costs. The programme is set to continue awarding young people from diverse backgrounds until at least 2023.

Emily Nott, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Innovate UK said: “With 2020 proving to be an incredibly difficult year, maintaining our focus on Young Innovators was a priority for Innovate UK since finding the great entrepreneurial minds of the future is more important than ever. Working alongside this year’s winners, Innovate UK will help them grow and develop their business idea to make the world a better, and more innovative place. We can’t wait to see what they achieve this year.”

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