PETACH TIKVA, Israel, July 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Emerald Medical Applications Corp. (OTCQB:MRLA) (“Emerald” or the “Company”), the Israeli-based company engaged in the development and sale of DermaCompare™, its proprietary artificial intelligence technology and application for the early diagnosis of melanoma and other skin cancers, today announced that it was awarded first prize over 3,500 other competing tech companies in the Publicis Groupe 90 initiative at the inaugural edition of Viva Technology Paris.
Emerald earned first prize for its DermaCompare™ skin cancer screening application. Upon awarding the Company the Grand Prix during his closing speech, Maurice Lévy, Chairman & CEO. of Publicis Groupe said, “The choice has been relatively easy, because when we went through all the marks and called the judges, you came number one by any measure... It’s a competition that you have won formidably... I hope now that you will save lives... congratulations.”
You can view Emerald founder, Lior Wayn, receiving the Grand Prize here.
The Publicis90 competition was organized Publicis Groupe Euronext Paris: FR0000130577, CAC40 to celebrate its 90th anniversary of by looking to the future and in an effort to encourage venture capital in the startup sector, Publicis Groupe pledged to provide funding and mentoring for 90 digital start-up projects, the “Publicis90.”
The event “Viva Technology Paris” was inaugurated by the visit of the President of the Republic of France, François Hollande, as well as the Minister of the Economy, the Secretary of State in charge of Digital, the Mayor of Paris, and other dignitaries. In addition to Publicis Groupe , participants included some of the biggest names in tech and business, including Tim Armstrong (AOL), Rania Belkahia (Africa Market), Jim Breyer (Breyer Capital), Jay Carney (Amazon), John Chambers (Cisco), Jim Gianopulos (20th Century Fox), Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind), Rosabeth Moss Kanter (Harvard Business School), David Kenny (IBM Watson), Isabelle Kocher (Engie), Robin Li (Baidu), SY Lau (Tencent), David Marcus (Facebook), Stéphane Richard (Orange), Eric Schmidt (Alphabet), Joe Schoendorf (Accel), Jimmy Wales (Wikimedia Foundation), and Reem Younis (Alpha Omega Ltd).
When asked how they decided to hold the Competition, Mr.Lévy, said: “Rather than celebrating the past, we wanted to celebrate Publicis Groupe ' 90th anniversary in a manner consistent with the Groupe’s DNA, by looking to the future. And so, we will be funding and supporting entrepreneurial projects led by people inside and outside of the group.”
Publicis Groupe began accepting applicants in January, and by the time the entries to Publicis90 closed, they had received over 3,500 submissions from entrepreneurs representing 141 countries around the world. The US had the largest number of companies on the list, with 23% of the total, followed by 18% from France, 14% from the UK, 7% from Germany, 6% from Israel and 3% from India.
Each of the 3,500+ projects were put through a stringent and completely anonymous selection process and voted on by the more than 70,000 employees of Publicis Groupe to identify the 90 winners. First the applicants were screened by a team of 100 Publicis Groupe digital experts for feasibility, and then analyzed by Iris Capital for viability. The final selection was made by a global jury comprised of noted industry executives, including Stéphane Richard from Orange, Carolyn Everson of Facebook, Carlo D`Asaro Biondo from Google, and SY Lau of Tencent.
Companies selected to join the Publicis Groupe 90 will receive support from Publicis Groupe to help them develop and build the Publicis Groupe Groupe of the future. Each will receive an investment ranging from 10,000€ to 500,000€ and a mentor chosen from among Publicis Groupe`s experts in digital, marketing and communications will also support the people championing these startups.
Emerald’s submission, DermaCompare, combines military-grade surveillance technology, artificial intelligence, crowdsourced data and a cloud-based mobile platform with a free, intuitive app to facilitate the detection of cancerous moles and skin anomalies with a simple digital camera, typically a tablet or Smartphone (iPhone or Android).
The user-friendly App and self-explanatory instructions can be downloaded on virtually any device with a digital camera. Once a patients to upload their TBP images to their file in the DermaCompare cloud for storage and review, the DermaCompare platform (i) compares those images to any prior patient images on file as well as any relevant images from the Company’s database; (ii) updates the patient file and creates a summary of data points with current, relevant data about the patient’s skin together with alerts to any suspicious image changes; and (iii) notifies the associated physician to retrieve and review the patient’s chart and TPB images.
Emerald’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Lior Wayn, commented on the award, “We are thrilled to be the Grand Prize winner of Publicis90, especially after seeing the stature of the competing companies. To be selected for the top prize by a jury with such distinction is truly gratifying.”
Wayn went on to say, “We are most grateful to Publicis Groupe for inviting us to participate in this incredible event, which was so much more than a contest. The capital and resources they have committed to us, as well as the contacts we made with other participants and sponsors, will be invaluable as we work to scale the Derma Compare platform to a global user-base.”
About EmeraldMedical ApplicationsCorp
Emerald Medical Applications is an Israeli-based medical technology company that utilizes proprietary military image processing technology and state of the art data analytics to improve the analysis of medical images. Emerald’s flagship solution, DermaCompare™, is an FDA Class #1 approved, HIPPA- compliant, skin cancer (melanoma) screening platform that enables physicians to identify and monitor changes in their patients’ skin health, specifically the early detection of cancerous moles and skin anomalies.
The DermaCompare™ patient application is available in Mac or Android based platforms and works using virtually any digital camera, including cell phones, iPads, tablets and other similar devices, to take Total Body Photography (“TBP”) images and, in real-time, transmit these images for dermatological evaluation and identification of suspicious moles, lesions and other skin conditions. These images are then compared using Emerald’s cloud database, as well as the patient’s previous Total Body Photography images, which will dramatically enhance a physician’s ability to detect Melanoma earlier, more accurately and more efficient than other means of diagnosis
For more information, visit:http://www.dermacompare.com/
About Viva Technology Paris
The first edition of Viva Technology Paris, the international event organized by Publicis Groupe and Groupe Les Echos, is dedicated to the growht of startups, to digital transformation and innovation. For its first edition, Viva Technology Paris brought together from June 30 - July 2 in the Hall 1 of Porte de Versailles in Paris over 45,000 visitors of which tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, talents, investors and academics. More information at http://www.vivatechnologyparis.com and @VivaTech on Twitter.
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, about Emerald’s expectations, beliefs or intentions regarding, among other things, its product development efforts, business, financial condition, results of operations, strategies or prospects. In addition, from time to time, Emerald or its representatives have made or may make forward-looking statements, orally or in writing. Forward- looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “should” or “anticipate” or their negatives or other variations of these words or other comparable words or by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters. These forward-looking statements may be included in, but are not limited to, various filings
made by Emerald with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases or oral statements made by or with the approval of one of Emerald’s authorized executive officers. Forward- looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results as of the date they are made. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause Emerald’s actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause Emerald’s actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the factors summarized in Emerald’s filings with the SEC. In addition, Emerald operates in an industry sector where securities values are highly volatile and may be influenced by economic and other factors beyond its control. Emerald does not undertake any obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Reference is made to the disclosure under “risk factors” included in our Registration Statement on Form S-1 which was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 20, 2016.
Contact:
Lior Wayn, CEO
+1-917-7242059
+972-50-6816300
