PEI Grant advances Tucson health tech | News

The Partnership for Economic Innovation, a collective of business and community leaders dedicated to advancing Arizona’s economy, announced a $200,000 grant to Senphonix through its WearTech Applied Research Center.

The funding supports a 12-month research and development initiative to help bring the Tucson-based company’s SleeveSense wearable mesh vitals sleeve and software platform for continuous patient monitoring to market.

“This funding from PEI’s WearTech Applied Research Center enables us to accelerate our path to commercialization,” said Mike Haldane, co-founder and co-CEO of Senphonix. “By automating the process of collecting vital signs, we’re not only giving nurses back valuable time for direct patient care but also creating a continuous monitoring solution that can detect early warning signs that might otherwise be missed between manual checks.”

Senphonix’s SleeveSense technology automates vital sign collection through a comfortable, adhesive-free sleeve that patients can wear continuously for days, weeks or months — including while exercising, bathing or sleeping. The device monitors heart rate, respiration, temperature and movement, transmitting data wirelessly to the Senphonix cloud on Microsoft Azure and then to a health system’s electronic health record.

The innovation benefits nurses, who spend up to 20% of their shifts manually collecting and documenting vital signs, according to a national study by MarketWise Advising LLC.

SleeveSense combines flexible materials science with cloud-based analytics and EHR-integrated software to enable high-fidelity remote monitoring for inpatient and outpatient care. Unlike watches, rings or adhesive patches, SleeveSense is designed for long-term comfort and clinical-grade accuracy, with wireless charging that eliminates the need for removal.

“Senphonix represents exactly the type of innovation that strengthens Arizona’s position as a hub for wearable technology,” said Kathleen Lee, director of PEI’s WearTech Applied Research Center. “Their collaboration with the University of Arizona and Remedy Medical Manufacturing shows how our ecosystem connects research, manufacturing and entrepreneurship to solve real healthcare challenges while creating economic value for our state.”

The grant will fund key development activities, including design optimization and encapsulation research at Dr. Philipp Gutruf’s laboratory at the University of Arizona, ISO-compliant manufacturing process design with Remedy Medical Manufacturing in Phoenix, and preparation for Class II FDA 510(k) clearance.

The applied research model accelerates product development by combining private and public sector support. PEI’s WearTech Applied Research Center bridges the “valley of death” that often prevents emerging technologies from reaching commercialization by linking entrepreneurs and industry with world-class research teams and resources.

To learn more about Senphonix, visit senphonix.com. For information about PEI’s WearTech Applied Research Center, visit azpei.org.