“Sports Walker” highlights innovative spirit of multiple sclerosis community
Geneva, Switzerland, May 30, 2012 – In honor of World MS Day, Merck Serono, a division of Merck, Darmstadt, Germany, and Brian Light, a person living with multiple sclerosis (MS), today unveiled the prototype of the “Sports Walker,” a state-of-the-art concept designed to provide support for someone with limited mobility, while keeping their hands free to play the sports they love.
Light was selected by the MS community as the overall winner of the “Real MS: Your Innovation” campaign, a global design competition sponsored by Merck Serono that challenged the MS community to submit unique and innovative ideas to help people overcome MS-related challenges. For Light, his main challenge was limited mobility, which made his 30-year-long hobby of playing volleyball nearly impossible, until the Sports Walker allowed him to get back on the court.
As the competition winner, Light traveled to the design studios of IDEO, an award-winning global design and innovation firm, where he worked hand-in-hand with IDEO designers to evolve and refine his idea.
“We spent a lot of time with Brian talking about how we could make the Sports Walker more portable, compact and applicable to daily life,” said Florian Altmann, senior designer and project lead at IDEO. “The final prototype is a compelling example of the potential that exists when patients innovate to solve everyday challenges.”
Your Innovation marks the second and final phase of the Real MS campaign, launched by Merck Serono in 2010 to build a greater understanding of MS and stimulate a hopeful message around navigating life with MS. The first competition, Your Story, featured a global script-writing competition that resulted in a short film about life with MS.
“The MS community inspires us every day, and Real MS was truly a celebration of this inspiration and positive spirit,” said Belén Garijo, Chief Operating Officer at Merck Serono. “As Real MS comes to a close, our work is by no means done. Merck Serono has always been committed to supporting the needs of people living with MS.”
Merck Serono’s commitment to patient support will continue in the form of UniteMS.net, an international social network designed specifically for people living with and impacted by multiple sclerosis. For more information about UniteMS, Brian Light, or the Sports Walker, visit www.UniteMS.net. This site is not intended for use by residents of the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland. United States residents should visit us.realmsvoices.com.
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