SSt's European patent was granted in August 2003. Coverage for Europe has now been secured in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, providing patent coverage for around 80% of the Western European population. The patent was granted as European Patent No 0972196.
In 1999, SSt filed one of the first Chinese patent applications allowable under the Patent Cooperation Treaty as a result of China's application to join the World Trade Organisation. This patent was granted in August 2003,as Chinese Patent No ZL98803467,0. Recent estimates suggest there are over 100 million people in China with diabetes and many more at risk. China is expected to become a major market for SSt technology in the future and a dialogue has already taken place with Chinese officials.
SSt's founder, James Jackson, made a presentation to the Royal Society Science, City, Industry Dialogue programme, at a one day conference entitled "Information and Communication Technologies to Enhance Quality of Life - Potential wealth-creating developments from research in health: the next decade" on Thursday 26 June 2003. This meeting brought together speakers from Industry, academia, government and the finance community to discuss the future of healthcare and the healthcare industry.
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/royalsoc/sci/HealthSeminarReport.pdf
SSt is a named contributor to the setting of 14 "Grand Challenges in Global Healthcare", which were selected by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the US National Institutes of Health. Grand Challenges in Global Healthcare is a $200m initiative of the Gates Foundation to improve the healthcare of people living in developing countries. SSt is assembling a bid for funding under the programme to develop multi-test devices for screening and monitoring of diseases including infectious diseases.
The UK Design Council's Humanising Technology initiative is a unique project to help UK emerging technology companies significantly boost their chances of developing commercially successful products. SSt is one of 8 companies selected for the scheme.
Teams of design, business and technology experts will visit SSt to help identify areas where design could be used at an early stage to drive their business forward. The Design Council will continue to support and mentor the SSt over a three-year period as we develop and implement design-led initiatives.
Findings and lessons from the project will be shared with other firms throughout the sector and new, practical tools will be evolved to allow emerging technology businesses to themselves identify when and how to use design for maximum effectiveness.
In May 2002, SSt won "Best Innovation in Integrated Medicine" at the Medical Futures Awards.
The panel of judges at Medical Futures included representatives from both industry and the medical community.
SSt was selected to join a group of 14 British businesses for the "Showcase of British Enterprise", hosted by the UK Permanent Representative to the European Union. Speakers at the event included Nigel Griffiths, the UK Small Firms Minister and Fabio Colasanti, the European Commission's Director-General for Enterprise.
http://www.smallbusinesseurope.org/Archive/Newsletters/Issue_007.pdf
In April 2001, SSt beat two major pharmaceutical companies to win "Most Innovative e-Commerce Strategy" at the Global Pharmaceutical Awards.
The panel of judges, comprised of top executives from the pharmaceutical industry and the financial sector, said SSt "Has potential to change the way healthcare delivers".
Oxford-based seed fund InnovOx, co-founded by Oxford Innovation, invested seed capital in SSt to fund the development of prototype biosensor smartcard and informatics technology.