2013 Medical Device Manufacturer of the Year Finalists: X2 Biosystems

Spurred by his son's personal experience with a life-altering sports-related concussion, Rich Able co-founded X2 Biosystems with a simple mission: to create awareness and solve the challenge of sports concussions.

The company's X-Guard mouthguard and X-Patch skin patch are lightweight impact sensors that can be worn by athletes in a variety of sports. While giving all of the appearance and function of a mouthguard, the X-Guard measures impact to a player's skull and wirelessly transmits this data to a tablet or computer for monitoring. The X-Patch does the same by unobtrusively attaching to a player's neck or other part of the body. By measuring impact over time, X2 enables clinicians to detect possible concussions early, before they become a major concern.

The ultimate goal is to build a database of impact data that can be used to more efficiently diagnose concussions. As of the 2013 season, X2's concussion management technology has been adopted by all the teams in the NFL.