On 14th November, Joseph was among 100 shortlisted businesses presenting their ideas during the semi-final event held at the KIA Oval in London, all pitching for one of 12 sought-after spots in the final rounds.
Joseph designed REACT (Rapid Emergency Actuating Tamponade) – a device that aims to reduce catastrophic blood loss from a knife or gunshot wound - as part of his Product Design and Technology degree. He founded ACT Medical while a member of Loughborough University’s business incubator, LUinc.
A victim of a stabbing can bleed to death in just five minutes, and speed is essential in stemming blood loss from the wound.
The current advice for treating stab wounds is not to remove the knife object from the wound if it is still in place. This is because the object is applying internal pressure to the wound site whilst also filling the cavity and preventing internal bleeding.
Providing first responders with a method of applying direct pressure to the wound site would drastically reduce the trauma mortality rate. Research during prototyping suggests that the device could stop a haemorrhage in less than a minute.
Joseph’s vision is that the device will be used by first responders - including paramedics and police officers - to help save lives around the world.
Joseph will now join 11 other finalists to pitch his innovative system in front of a high-profile judging panel in the final, held at Santander’s headquarters in Milton Keynes, on the 7th December.
The winners will receive up to £25,000 in equity-free funding and secure an automatic place in the Santander X Global Awards, providing further opportunities to win cash prizes and additional benefits to take their solutions to the next level.
Now in its 13th year, The Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards stand as one of the UK's major platforms for student and graduate business pitches. Over the years, they've supported numerous early-stage entrepreneurs, providing over £900,000 in equity-free funding to start-ups and small businesses.
In 2022, Loughborough alumnus Zak Marks walked away with the Santander X Launch award as well as £15,000 equity free funding for his health tech start up ‘a defibrillator for allergies’, which he began shaping while studying at Loughborough with the support of LUinc.
ACT Medical has already gained significant recognition for its potential, being the first-ever winner of the International Medical James Dyson Award in 2021 and receiving £30,000 in prize money.
LUinc. is a part of the Loughborough Enterprise Network (LEN) which brings together support for entrepreneurial students from across the University to enable founders to develop skills, test ideas and setup and scale businesses. For more information about how Loughborough University helps its graduates and spinouts develop as entrepreneurs, visit the LUinc. webpages.