Emergency immobiliser for accident victims
The Centre for Applied Research Tecnalia Research & Innovation has through its FIK initiative designed Varstiff, a smart textile material that can adopt different shapes; when vacuum is applied to it, it turns rigid once again and achieves hardness equivalent to that of a conventional plastic. The material reverts to its flexible state once the vacuum is released. The first product Varstiff will be used for will be an emergency immobiliser for accident victims. Thanks to the encouragement and collaboration of Janus Development, this product has been selected by the Botín Foundation as one of the three award-winning projects in the first edition of its programme "Mind the Gap". To support its launch onto the market a new technology-based enterprise will be set up to operate in the healthcare sector initially, but with plans to expand its activity to other sectors like the automotive or leisure sectors.