Updated March 2017
, making fall prevention an urgent public health priority. One in every three people aged 65+ falls at least once a year, with potentially devastating consequences, including social isolation, reduced quality and life and less independence. For 35-year-old Lise Pape, who has seen her father suffering from Parkinson’s for more than 15 years, issues around mobility and the risk of falling are deeply personal. Driven by a desire to help her father, and with access to researchers at Imperial College London where she was completing a double Masters in Innovation Design Engineering, Lise started studying the issues of day-to-day life for people with Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis.
The result was two products, Path Feel and Path Finder, which focus on improving people’s balance and mobility, significantly impacting on physical health, self-esteem and social life. Funding from the Dyson Foundation, Nesta and the Helen Hamlyn Trust soon followed, giving rise to Walk With Path, a company dedicated to developing wearable products that reduce the risk of falling for vulnerable individuals.