Hi I have been unable to read the full story as I don’t subscribe to the local on line paper only the Lincoln.
I have been suffered from insomnia since 2006 following an emergency operation. I have followed all guidance no caffeine after 4, lavender based products etc good diet exercise limiting alcohol and nothing works I have been taking zpolicone on and of since 2006 and have an appointment at gp about the new medication available. I am tired from lack of sleep or groggy, when taking medication which has affected me over the 20 years. I was wondering if there was any help/ideas you could give me
Debby Isherwood

Good afternoon,

The City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Trams and Transport for Edinburgh have launched the DISC, an open innovation challenge aiming to support the development of a solution able to identify, as close to real-time as possible, the early symptoms of loss of focus, consciousness/alertness/paralysis or similar due to:
• fatigue levels – the bidders are expected to have a solution able to detect both micro sleeps, early signs of sleep, and a decline in levels of alertness.
• common health conditions – Driver Innovation Safety Challenge (DISC) is not prescriptive regarding the range of acute and/or chronic illnesses monitored which may lead to a reduction in the ability of the operator to manage the tram safely.
See here for an overview: http://edinburghtrams.com/about-trams/disc
The DISC is an innovation partnership procurement: the Council and the Edinburgh Trams support the R&D of bidders (£560k of funding available), and commit to purchasing the solution developed during the challenge, provided it performs adequately.
The project is sponsored by George Lowder, Chief executive for transport for Edinburgh (Lothian buses, Edinburgh trams), and the Scottish Government Procurement Directorate (programme for government).

In order to proceed with the project, we are currently looking for a health advisor profile. Would this be something you would be interested in providing? We are looking for support to develop the award criteria of the challenge, and :

13 days of support from mid April 2019 to Dec 2019:
– Consolidate a generic list of questions/documentations to be included in the invitation to tender (e.g. compliance with certain standards) to get assurance that the bidders have done enough research/testing to back their claim in terms of what their solution can achieve. This objective for the Council and Edinburgh Trams is to be in a position to get assurance that whatever technology the bidders have actually performs as well as they say it does for the health, and fatigue aspects of the challenge.
– Create a minimum list of performance targets and tests to be reached/implemented by the bidders. The objective for the council is to answer the questions:
o From a medical standpoint, what should be the minimum performance targets in terms of fatigue and health expected from the bidders? /” the solution should as a minimum do X and Y, with those levels of accuracy”.
o And based on those performance targets, what tests should we ask the bidders to perform so we know that their solution works? Note that we do not require clinical trials as the device developed is not expected to be medical grade.
– Review the tenders of the bidders to down-select their number from 30 to do 5, then 5 to 3 during the tendering process. Note a participation to 2 days of product demonstration and face to face meetings with the bidders.

30 days of support from Dec 209 to Dec 2020:
– Verify that the solutions are being delivered as agreed and that the R&D implemented by the bidders is going as planned
– Overview the testing implemented by the bidders and answer their technical questions.
– Create a final report validating the approach taken by the Project Team to the structuration of the challenge

Would someone in your organization be available for a meeting to discuss this further ?

Kind regards,

Marie Josselin