A Manchester founder's digital support project for neurodivergent children and families has won first place in an AI-building competition.
Duane Walters, who created NeuroKids Space, has supplied Manchester Gazette with an award-confirmation image naming his project as the first-place winner in Emergent's Building Türkiye competition.
He describes the win as an important milestone for a project he has been building from the ground up, inspired by his own experience as a parent.
Connecting home, school and professional support
NeuroKids Space is being developed to help families, schools and professionals organise observations and share information about a child's support.
The project's website describes tools for linking information from home and school, recording progress and preparing supporting evidence. It is currently described as being at pilot stage, rather than a finished service in widespread use.
The website also says the platform is intended to support human decisions, not diagnose children or replace professional judgement.
Looking for local connections
Walters says his next priority is to raise awareness and connect with schools and special educational needs and disabilities organisations across Greater Manchester as he works towards the next stage.
His submission brings together a local founder's experience, digital development and an ambition to make communication between the people supporting children more connected.
More information is available on the NeuroKids Space website.