Curb’s CEO Jo Barrow wins Women In Innovation Award to invest in the future of behaviour change tech
Mar 8, 2023
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We're pleased to announce that our CEO Jo Barrow, has won £50,000 as an Innovate UK Women in Innovation 2023 Award Winner to invest in commercialising Curb’s game-changing predictive technology for behaviour change. The award is a testament to the unwavering commitment of Jo and her team to supporting people improving population health with innovative, accessible preventative health technology.
Innovate UK is empowering 50 pioneering women to scale their innovative businesses in every part of the UK. Each winner will benefit from a £50,000 grant, one-to-one business coaching, and a suite of networking, role modelling, and training opportunities. Now in its sixth year, the competition drew a record number of 920 applications from women business leaders, 10% up from last year, reflecting the growing number of women-led businesses in the UK (according to the Rose Review Progress Report 2023, 20% of all UK businesses are now led by all-women teams). The award funding will go towards developing Curb's mobile health technology platform which analyses data from wearables, digital phenotypes and patient inputs to build individualised profiles based on patterns of risky behaviour that might endanger progress during healthy behaviour change. It then delivers “Just-in-time interventions” to interrupt situations that could lead to lapse. The app will make it easier for anyone to change their behaviour sustainably and avoid relapse, and while their first product focuses on the eight million adults with hazardous drinking habits, the platform technology will scale to support all behaviours that harm peoples' health, from skinpicking, steroids, vaping - and even sex and love addiction. Jo Barrow said:
It’s amazing to be awarded alongside 49 other incredible women founders on International Women’s Day. Innovate UK is an example of an organisation that really puts its money where its mouth is on helping entrepreneurs to overcome systemic barriers. This grant will go towards on ensuring that Curb is built to the highest regulatory standards, so we can work with partners in the NHS and beyond on providing cost-effective preventative healthcare to as many people as possible.
Emily Nott, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Programmes at Innovate UK, said:
Each year I am blown away by the brilliant ideas and talent we uncover through our Women in Innovation programme. Despite these challenging economic times, this year’s winners have shown great leadership, passion and resilience in driving their innovations forward. Innovate UK will work alongside them now to ensure they have the resources and support required to grow and scale their businesses, while encouraging a new generation of women to get involved in innovation, pursue their ambitions and transform our economy and society.”
On International Women's Day, Curb wants to recognise and applaud the extraordinary contributions of women entrepreneurs who are driving innovation, creating jobs, and making a difference in their communities.
Details on all 50 women innovators can be found here: https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/women-in-innovation/women-in-innovation-winners/
If you’re an inspiring women innovator, check out how Innovate UK could support you here: https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/women-in-innovation/ More information about Curb
Curb is a health technology platform dedicated to making it easy to quit or reduce all harmful behaviours. Our focus is on providing novel digital therapeutic interventions exactly at the moment of need, delivering digital-first care that is accessible and affordable for all people. Our mission is to free the world from the kinds of avoidable health conditions that earlier and better access to health.
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