Public Funding for Oxford Dynamics Limited

**The Challenge** The overall number of people reporting mental health problems in the UK and globally rises year on year. This translates into increasing monthly referrals to community mental health teams, whilst at the same time, UK investment in mental health services has fallen in real terms. Over a quarter (26%) of young women aged between 16--24 years old report having a common mental health problem, whilst the elderly report depression and loneliness as key impactors on mental health. Significant barriers often exist to obtaining mental health care support in the UK, including lack of local resources, social stigma, cost, and an ability to travel to receive care. However, research has shown that user engagement, rather than the modality of therapy is the key to achieving successful outcomes. This indicates that the provision of mental health support via new digital means has the potential to be as effective as some forms of traditional psychotherapy. **Vision** Oxford Dynamics will develop Empathy-XR: an innovative, AI-based personal mental health wellness tool able to monitor and assist with anxiety and depression, the most commonly reported mental health challenges. Initially delivered via smartphone and/or tablet, Empathy-XR will combine Oxford Dynamics' proven core expertise in Conversational AI and AI-based image procession/ vision systems, to deliver a unique, highly personalized, and novel immersive experience. Empathy-XR will enable immediate access to unique supportive care that is non-judgmental, eternally patient, and always available. By circumventing financial & geographic barriers to mental health provision, together with a strong focus on ease of use and an extended reality user experience, Empathy-XR will provide a breakthrough in immersive conversations, focussed on one the largest challenge areas to society. Ultimately Empathy-XR seeks to be a valuable and powerful addition to the health practitioner and patient's arsenal. Working with the NHS and a number of mental health charities, this project aims to demonstrate evidence-based improvements in users' reported mental health via field trials. **Project Deliverables** This Industrial Development project builds upon prior successful Oxford Dynamics work and previous user engagement, to produce a prototype system suitable for Beta field trials with key stakeholders. The project will cover Empathy-XR's commercial, ethical, and technical aspects, together with a roadmap for full commercial release.

Face masks are increasingly being worn to protect from airborne pathogens and pollution. These work by filtering the ambient air when the wearer breathes in, typically removing around 95% of moisture droplets and particles greater than 5 microns (millionths of a meter) in diameter. Coronaviruses, such as Covid-19, are as small as 0.3 microns, and can only be stopped from entering the wearer's nasal and oral system when attached to a larger particle. Fortunately, this is generally the case when the moisture droplets are generated by an infected person. Oxford Dynamics, an Oxfordshire based start-up, is developing a wearable, personal air purification unit, known as “Air2”. The USB rechargeable design aims to offer superior protection against airborne particulates and pathogens, as well as the ability to neutralize gases associated with pollution in dense urban environments such as NOx, SOx and PAHs. Air2 exists at a concept stage with a number of key elements currently undergoing design and prototyping. Funding for this project will help accelerate the development of the product towards commercial release. Overseas interest from India, home to 22 of the world's 30 most polluted cities, has been expressed and nascent talks are underway, supported by the UK's Department for International Trade (DIT). All product development and product accreditation with take place in the UK, with manufacturing expected to take place both in the UK and India. EXTENTION FOR IMPACT The Extension for Impact grant will enable the production of a higher quality, higher TRL pre-production prototype that can be used as an asset for marketing and promotional activity. Current 3D printed plastic materials will be replaced by brushed aluminum for the Air Processing Unit (APU) body, for example. The pre-production unit would also be used to complement the activity of Oxford Dynamics in India. The Extension for Impact grant would also permit the pre-production unit to undergo formal EMC compliance testing (in the UK) to ensure compliance to the appropriate electrical safety and emissions standards in order to obtain the required CE Mark.