A new mobile-based health and fitness assessment aid has scooped the top prize at the NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme. The FitFone Exercise Physiology System is embedded into a mobile phone and facilitates remote health and fitness assessment. It measures an individual's fitness level using personal statistics such as age, weight, and height, and combines it with the time taken for an individual to complete a certain exercise.

The system also uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) embedded in the phone which can track how far the phone owner has walked or run as part of their exercise regime.

These fitness metrics can be used to monitor changes in fitness levels and may be used by coaches to design programmes around the individual's fitness needs.

FitFone was founded by Dr Conor O'Brien, a consultant neurophysiologist and sports physician. Dr O'Brien was also chairman of the Anti-doping Committee of the Irish Sports Council between 1999 and 2005, a former Irish Olympic team doctor and the current chairman of the Irish Heart Foundation Council for Exercise.

The NovaUCD CCDP is designed to help academic entrepreneurs in commercialising their research and developing new businesses from it.

This year's runners up was Biontrack, which delivers software solutions to support protein researchers in industry and academia, and Nanogrind, which developed a new manufacturing processing technology using microwave heating as a processing tool for the fabrication of metal (nickel)-diamond composites.

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