Here are some major milestones for the Balance Mat technology.

The commercialisation road trip for Ian Bergman’s Balance Mat technology started way back in 2008. After spending eight years researching and developing a precursor application for the security industry, the realisation dawned that postural sway assessment for healthcare and allied health practitioners and researchers was absolutely the way to go. And then eventually the Balance Mat was born.

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 practitioners and researchers – September 2021
13. Validation of the Balance Mat against inertial sensors by University of Canberra Lecturer in Engineering & IT Dr Maryam Ghahramani – December 2021
14. Creation of an industrial robot by Dr Damith Herath at University of Canberra to calibrate the Balance Mat and ensure quality control between mats – December 2021
15. Listing by Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of the Balance Mat as a class 1 medical device – December 2021
16. 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
17. Establishment of new Balance Metrix business to sell the Multimetric, Neurometric and Unimetric Balance Mat systems – June 2022
18. Completion of Neurometric Balance Mat for researchers in allied health & medicine – September 2022
19. Principal Ian Bergman overcoming personal battles with blood cancer chemotherapy, 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
20. 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
21. Developing new branding for the Balance Metrix supplier business complete with logo, website, messaging and social media channels – February 2023
22. Balance Mat Pty Ltd employee electronics engineer Abishek Shrestha begins a machine learning PhD research project at the University of Canberra (UC) that has the aim of enabling earlier falls intervention for people over 65. Abishek’s supervisors are (now) Senior Lecturer in Electronics and IT and long-time (two years) Balance Mat user Dr Maryam Ghahramani, (now) Professor of Robotics Damith Herath and Clinical Associated Professor in Physiotherapy Dr Angie Fearon – February 2023
23. Receiving university validation by exercise physiology scientist Dr Isaac Selva Raj at Edith Cowan University recommending the Balance Mat for use in clinical and health settings – July 2023
24. Associate Professor in Physiotherapy Dr James McLoughlin from Flinders University and Advanced Neuro Rehab in Adelaide starts using the Balance Mat as a baseline measure for concussion screening, later going on to form a new company, Your Brain Health, that will use the Balance Mat in “multi-modal” assessments alongside Neuroflex virtual reality headsets. A new version of the mat based on the commonly used manual Balance Error Scoring System is launched as the BESS Balance Mat – February 2024
25. Professor Ecosse Lamoureux and Assistant Professor Preeti Gupta from Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore provide a brief research update on their use of the Balance Mat in the PopulatION HEalth and Age-Related SEnsory Decline PRofilE- (PIONEER) study at Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). PIONEER is a large, nationally representative, population-based study in a contemporary population of 2,643 elderly Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporeans aged 60-100 years. Since May 2023 they have been collecting data from the Neurometric Balance Mat eyes open and eyes closed tests to help assess how balance and postural ability are affected by sensory declines and systemic ailments commonly observed as part of the ageing process – March 2024
26. Physiotherapist Barbara Cullinan becomes a Balance Metrix Innovation Partner, using the Neurometric Balance Mat to help 120 patients living with Parkinson’s disease at The Park – Parkinson’s Wellness Centre on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast – April 2024
27. Physiotherapy researcher Dr Carol Flavell from James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville becomes a Balance Metrix Innovation Partner. Dr Flavell and her research team establish their methodology protocols for a body of research involving the Balance Mat. Their research will look at the reliability, validity and acceptability of the Balance Mat for people of different falls risk – high, low and moderate. The team comprises two Physiotherapy researchers (Dr Flavell and Dr Moira Smith) and two Sport and Exercise Science Researchers (Professor Anthony Leicht and Dr Kenji Doma) – July 2024
28. Balance Mat inventor Ian Bergman is hosted by Balance Mat users Andy Curry from Ikigai Shift in Goulburn and Hassan Qureshi from Holistic EP at the Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) Research to Practice showcase in Sydney, where (now) Associate Professor Isaac Selva Raj has a poster paper displayed about his validation work on the Balance Mat and Ian meets renowned Sydney exercise physiologist and Director of Rehab on the Road and The EP Network, Danyel (Danny) Miller – May 2024
29. Danny Miller starts using the Neurometric Balance Mat with her Parkinson’s and elderly clients, prompting technology developments to enable the system to work on a Macintosh computer, pioneering the system’s use outdoors at the beach and videoing a balance test with her Parkinson’s client, Paula and posting it on LinkedIn – June 2024
30. Balance Metrix employs exercise physiology student and NDIS participant Ryan J Fawke as part-time Biomedical Technology Presenter in Canberra and marketing and sales specialist Catriona Watson-Kennedy as part-time Biomedical Technology Advocate in Sydney – August 2024
31. Danny Miller invites Balance Metrix to participate in World Clinical Exercise Physiology Day at Dee Why Beach, again prompting changes to the way the Balance Mat can be operated. Previously we said it couldn’t be used on grass but that issue was solved by double-sided-taping the mat hardware to plywood boards. A total of 43 members of the public had their balance tested on the Day, with results that showed three had a definite balance problem requiring allied health or general practitioner attention (what we call “poor” balance) and 16 were in the “intermediate” category where they probably would benefit from balance exercise intervention. This led to an early hypothesis worthy of university research or practice testing – that one person in 15 will have a definite balance problem – September 2024
32. Balance Mat Pty Ltd is invited by Professor Irene Blackberry, the John Richards Chair and Director of the Care Economy Research Institute at Latrobe University in Victoria, to join the Care Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) that is in the process of being established – September 2024
33. Balance Metrix forms a partnership with London-based chartered physiotherapist Ashley Shepherd to promote her StandSure rehabilitation board invention alongside the Balance Mat in both the UK and Australia – October 2024
34. Balance Metrix forms a six-month partnership with Wauchope-based general practitioner Dr Phil Ewart (pioneer user and launch host of the Balance Mat) to test his patients’ balance – October 2024
35. Balance Metrix forms a partnership with the leading, award-winning online health program for independent adults and lifestyle villages – Wini Health – to introduce the Balance Mat into retirement living communities – June 2025