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Congratulations to Remarkable alumna, Urwah Nawaz, who has been named as the winner of Vogue Australia’s 2022 ‘Future Innovators Award’!
A PhD student at the University of Adelaide, Urwah is a co-founder of Vertere, a startup working to create a low-cost smart mattress that enables movement for people with a mobility-limiting disability.
Having already completed a biomedical science degree, the 26-year-old developed an interest in creating an assistive tech product that addresses this widespread need after caring for her mother after a serious car accident.
“This is how I discovered the importance of design when it comes to products that may permanently become part of one’s physical identity; particularly medical devices that stay with patients well after they leave hospitals and care facilities,” said Urwah.
The Vogue Future Innovators Award is the second milestone win for Urwah this year. She and her team at Vertere finished first in the 2022 Remarkable Design-athon, a four-week program, made possible by Cerebral Palsy Alliance, aimed at finding breakthrough technology to amplify, enrich and empower people with disabilities.
As the winner of Design-athon, Urwah will also be an inaugural member of Remarkable’s 2023 pre-accelerator, ‘Launcher’, which supports entrepreneurs and innovators from the beginning of their startup journey.
Through Remarkable, Cerebral Palsy Alliance is dedicated to building a more inclusive and independent future for people with disabilities, enabled by technology and innovation, something Urwah is also passionate about.
“I started interacting with people with disabilities and the community is so welcoming… We want to design with the disabled community, not for them,” she told Vogue Australia.
Are you a budding entrepreneur or tech innovator? Find out more about getting involved in the 2023 intake of the Remarkable accelerator program here.
