Mobility Designed’s M+D Crutch is a finalist for Fast Company’s Innovation By Design Awards, and the Kansas City startup will be featured in the magazine’s October issue. It’ll appear alongside companies like Facebook, Target and Ideo.
Mobility Designed—which was featured by Thinking Bigger Business earlier this year—has created a crutch that’s easier to use. Max and Liliana Younger’s device allows a person to rest their weight on their elbows or forearms instead of their wrists or armpits. The wear and tear of a traditional crutch can be excruciating for someone who uses one every day.
Max’s dad, who lost his leg a few years ago, helped inspire the creation of the M+D Crutch.
“Max’s dad lives in KC, and he’s been our primary user for testing prototypes,” Liliana Younger said. “We’ve been working with him since the concept was born, years ago. We’ve now tested with a few more users and done several focus groups with PT (physical therapist) and OT (occupational therapist) groups.”
Fast Company received more than 1,700 entries for this year’s Innovation By Design Awards. You can pick up a copy of the October issue of Fast Company starting Sept. 20. (Or check out this Fast Company piece from earlier in 2016.)
It’s a busy week for Mobility Designed, which is also a finalist for a LaunchKC grant worth $50,000. (It was actually a finalist last year, too.)
Other groups have paid attention to the Youngers, too. Their startup won $15,500 in the Regnier Institute’s Venture Creation Challenge a while back. And they secured funding through Digital Sandbox KC and the Missouri Technology Corporation IDEA Fund.