We’re excited to announce the finalist cohort for the KidsX x SPS Patient Safety Innovation Challenge. Following a highly competitive selection process and multiple rounds of review, four digital health solutions have been selected to showcase their work to the KidsX and SPS member networks.
As part of the program, each team will participate in a two-week startup bootcamp featuring presentations and interactive sessions on design thinking, pilot implementation, and the unique complexities of pediatric healthcare.
Finalists will present their solutions at an Innovation Showcase during the SPS Spring Learning Session in St. Louis, MO on May 15, 2026. The event will bring together more than 500 attendees from across the SPS network, offering a unique opportunity to engage directly with pediatric patient safety and quality leaders from across the country.
Following the showcase, one solution will be selected to participate in a multisite pilot validation study in collaboration with SPS. Anne Lyren, Chief Medical and Strategy Officer for SPS shared, “Every so often, you can feel the future of safety getting closer. The KidsX x SPS Innovation Showcase is one of those moments—real innovations, in front of the people who can bring them to life across children’s hospitals.”
Meet the Cohort
Backy (TacnIQ.ai)
Backy™ is a continuous ergonomic intelligence platform designed to reduce workplace injuries caused by overexertion. Built on ISO 11226 (posture) and ISO 11228 (lifting) standards, and grounded in NIOSH principles, Backy monitors posture and lifting exposure in real time using a lightweight wearable.
The system provides subtle haptic feedback to alert staff during high-risk movements, while continuously capturing data throughout the shift. This data is translated into a simple Back Stress Score (1–10), giving clinicians and leaders a clear, standardized view of ergonomic risk across individuals, teams, and units.
Backy enables hospitals to move from reactive injury reporting to proactive risk management by identifying high-risk tasks, improving safe movement behaviors, and supporting targeted interventions. Designed for comfort and ease of use, Backy integrates seamlessly into clinical workflows without adding documentation burden.
Calmwave
Hospitals generate more clinical signal than they can act on. Bedside monitors generate alarms constantly and roughly 70% are non-actionable which impacts patient harm, distracts nurses and doctors and creates noisy environments that limit healing and recovery. The infrastructure to fix this has never existed. CalmWave built it.
CalmWave is signal control infrastructure for hospitals capturing, normalizing, and operationalizing high-frequency vital sign data and EHR data – clinical data that existing systems can’t store and use. Our platform sits between medical devices and clinical workflows, ingesting real-time signals, structuring them through our Longitudinal Patient State (LPS) architecture, and delivering data-driven vital sign threshold recommendations that nurses can implement at their discretion to reduce alarm burden and improve patient safety.
The data exists. Now it is actionable.
DEFUSE (Nationwide Children’s)
Nationwide Children’s Hospital has developed an immersive virtual reality (VR) training solution designed to prevent and mitigate workplace violence by strengthening frontline staff readiness for patient behavioral events. Built with human‑centered design and informed by real clinical experiences, the platform delivers high‑fidelity, interactive simulations that allow healthcare staff to practice situational awareness, verbal de‑escalation, emotional self‑regulation, and team communication in a safe, repeatable environment. The solution includes four fully developed VR modules and a parallel screen‑based option, ensuring accessibility across diverse roles, settings, and technology environments. Learners engage in realistic scenarios, make real‑time decisions, and receive individualized feedback through built‑in debriefing and objective performance metrics. Evaluated across multiple healthcare organizations, the platform demonstrates high usability, strong engagement, and positive impacts on staff preparedness and confidence. Together, these capabilities offer a practical, evidence‑informed approach to building a safer, more confident, and better‑prepared healthcare workforce.
Kwema
Kwema’s Smart Badge Reel™ enables healthcare workers to discreetly call for help during aggressive incidents without escalating situations through a silent, wearable duress button embedded in a standard badge reel. Leveraging mobile device GPS and existing infrastructure, alerts deliver precise location data in seconds while integrating seamlessly into clinical workflows.
With no charging or complex training required, Kwema achieves near-universal adoption. The result is a proven 2.6x increase in staff safety confidence within 90 days, faster response times, and measurable reductions in costly turnover among specialized pediatric staff.
