Our commercialisation road trip has had many major milestones to travel past.

Our commercialisation road trip to develop the Balance Mat Ian Bergman invented started in 2008. This challenging and lengthy journey involved eight years spent researching and developing a precursor application of the technology before the realisation dawned that postural sway assessment for healthcare and allied health practitioners and researchers was the right road for the technology to go – hence the Balance Mat was born. Given that it can take a new technologies decades and millions of dollars to go from an idea to a fully formed, marketable product (think Pixar, think Disney, think Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs and the 20 years it took to develop computer animation for movies), Ian has actually done very well to develop his Balance Mat system in only the seven years that followed. Below are some of the major milestones along the commercialisation road.

1. Establishment of Perimeter Security Industries Pty Ltd to research, develop and commercialise the patented SecureMat fibre-optic outdoor perimeter security solution featured on ABC TV program The New Inventors, precursor to Balance Mat Pty Ltd and the Balance Mat technology – July 2008
2. Establishment of Balance Mat Pty Ltd as a subsidiary of Perimeter Security Industries International Ltd with a board of directors and several seed investors following eight years developing the SecureMat technology for the security industry – April 2016
3. Inclusion in the Australian Government’s R&D Tax Incentive program – August 2016 to 2021
4. Balance Mat research & development (R&D) April 2016 to date ongoing
5. Testing of Unimetric Balance Mat prototype with Council on the Ageing (COTA) ACT members – April 2017
6. Completion of prototype Unimetric Balance Mat for aged care and “agewell” applications – December 2017
7. Validation by RMIT University of the Balance Mat system against force plate technology – August 2019
8. Completion of prototype Multimetric Balance Mat for allied health professionals – December 2019
9. Grant of Australian patent for the Balance Mat technology – January 2020
10. Clinical research by Dr Phil Ewart with more than 500 patients at Hastings Family Medical Centre – July 2020 to June 2021 ongoing
11. Marketing campaign to Council on the Ageing (COTA) SA Strength for Life exercise class facilitators in South Australia – September 2020
12. Completion of prototype Neurometric Balance Mat for allied health & medical researchers – September 2021
13. Validation by University of Canberra of the Neurometric Balance Mat against inertial sensors – December 2021
14. Listing by Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of the Balance Mat as a class 1 medical device – December 2021
15. Official launch of the Balance Mat system at Hastings Medical Centre, Wauchope, NSW, by then Minister for Regional Health Dr David Gillespie MP, Member for Lyne – January 2022
16. Establishment of new Balance Metrix business to sell the Multimetric, Neurometric and Unimetric Balance Mat systems – June 2022
17. Completion of Neurometric Balance Mat for researchers in allied health & medicine – September 2022
18. Fighting personal battles with blood cancer, pulmonary pneumonitis, Covid 19, a massive heart attack requiring triple bypass surgery and abdominal surgery (including more than two months spent as a patient in Bellingen, Canberra, Coffs Harbour and Prince of Wales Hospitals observing first-hand our wonderful Australian medical system and the heroic healthcare workers who make it tick) – 2020 to 2023
19. Marketing the Multimetric Balance Mat, Neurometric Balance Mat and Balance Metrix falls risk assessment system to the medical, falls and allied health research communities – in progress since December 2022
20. Developing new branding for the Balance Metrix spinoff business complete with logo, website, messaging and social media channels – February 2023
21. Receiving university validation by Edith Cowan University recommending the Balance Mat for use in clinical and health settings – July 2023