Today, TIME revealed its annual list of the Best Inventions, which features 200 extraordinary innovations changing our lives. Among the selected inventions is NAQI Earbuds, a founding company in the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), an incubator program powered by Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. The company is recognized in the Accessibility category.
“We’re excited for NAQI, one of our first companies, to receive this honor,” says Jay Jayamohan, Executive Director for the CIE with Harrisburg University. “They are proof that innovation originates from necessity and can be sparked from communities like Harrisburg—as long as innovators have an ecosystem of support like the CIE.”
NAQI-enabled neural earbuds offer a safe, non-invasive alternative to brain implants, allowing users to perform countless tasks, from using wheelchairs to writing emails, making payments, and even playing video games through an “invisible interface,” which use micro-gestures to control the devices all around us.
“NAQI is a life-changing innovation, founded here in Central PA and will give individuals accessibility to live a better life with newfound independence and opportunities,” says Dr. Eric Darr, President of Harrisburg University.
“We are honored to be chosen by TIME as one of the world’s best inventions in 2023,” said Dave Segal, the company’s inventor and Chief Innovation Officer. “We are now bringing Naqi to partners who are finding exciting ways to integrate our hands-free, voice-free, screen-free, and camera-free technology into earbuds, glasses and other wearables, to make impact in such sectors as accessibility, mobility, smart homes, gaming, emergency response and security, as well as other sectors.”
TIME’s editors compile the list of nominees by soliciting correspondents around the world, and through an online application process. They pay special attention to growing fields—such as AI, green energy, and sustainability. Then each contender is evaluated on a number of key factors, including originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact. Here is their full methodology: time.com/6327304/how-we-picked-the-best-inventions-of-2023/
Of the new list, TIME’s editors write: “The result is a list of 200 groundbreaking inventions (and 50 special mention inventions)—including the world’s most powerful supercomputer, a game-changing entertainment venue, and a new shape—that are changing how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible.”
See the full list here: time.com/best-inventions-2023
ABOUT NAQI
NAQI was developed to empower disabled veterans and those requiring assistive technology with touch-free, voice-free, and screen-free control of their entire connected world.
Inspired by his quadriplegic friend’s desire to contribute to society, inventor Dave Segal envisioned an “Invisible User Interface” between humans and machines. To fulfill this vision, he developed breakthrough technology that reads electrical signals created by facial micro-gestures and uses them to navigate a nearly infinite number of commands and devices.
NAQI represents the next generation of Human-Technology Interface (HTI).
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENURSHIP
Powered by Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) delivers entrepreneurial education and start up support services to the previously underserved communities of women, the disadvantaged, and other minority groups, as well as entrepreneurs and companies looking to innovate in Central Pennsylvania.
Learn about their incubator program, networking events, and more: cie.harrisburgu.edu
