A Colorado startup is looking to build the next generation of football helmet technology, and the NFL is supporting the project.
Denver-based Impressio was one of three startups to receive funding from the the NFL Helmet Challenge, a $3 million competition designed to accelerate helmet performance and safety for professional football players.
After two years of work, 13 companies submitted their new helmet prototypes for laboratory testing and evaluation by a judging panel. Impressio, along with Montreal-based Kollide and Detroit-based Xenith, were selected and will split $1.55 million in grant funding to advance their designs. That capital is in addition to the $1.37 million the league granted last year to help teams create their helmet prototypes.
Impressio has been building materials to be used inside helmets since its inception nearly five years ago. The company’s liquid-crystal elastomer (LCE) material is an elastic and highly energy-absorbing material that can be inserted into helmet liners.
Principal Engineer Lillian Chatham said the LCEs have great energy absorption and dissipation qualities that make them a natural fit for helmets.
By participating in this challenge, Impressio also developed a helmet prototype that outperformed the helmets currently being used by professionals. In total, NFL Helmet Challenge submissions achieved up to a 13% improvement above the top-performing helmet currently worn in the NFL, based on laboratory testing.
The judges selected awardees based on the helmet's ability to reduce the severity of impacts, how novel and promising the technology rated, and likelihood that the helmet will be used in the NFL.
In 2016, amid evidence linking player brain damage to concussions sustained during games, the NFL committed $60 million to establishing a five-year Engineering Roadmap "to improve the understanding of the biomechanics of head injuries in professional football and to create incentives for helmet manufacturers," according to the NFL. As part of that, in 2019, the NFL launched the two-year Helmet Challenge.
"The NFL Helmet Challenge is about revolutionary, not just evolutionary improvement," said Jeff Miller, NFL executive VP of communications, public affairs and policy, who oversees the NFL's health and safety work. "The NFL set out to challenge the marketplace and accelerate development of new technologies. We're proud to support the awardees and advance player health."
The league has also faced backlash related to its payouts of concussion claims for former players, recently agreeing to end race-based adjustments in dementia testing. Former players alleged that the league engaged in "race-norming" for dementia testing, making it challenging for Black retirees to qualify for awards.
To date, that concussion fund has paid out $821 million for five types of brain injuries, including early and advanced dementia, Parkinson's disease and ALS, according to the Associated Press.
The NFL has now backed Impressio four times since its founding. Chatham said this latest round of $454,000 in capital will help the company get its products onto an NFL field in the future.
“We’ll be working with a helmet manufacturer to try to get our LCEs in football helmets as soon as possible,” she said. “This next year we’ll be using that funding to accelerate that process.”
Outside of helmets, Chatham said Impressio’s LCE material has applications in medical devices, as it mimics biological tissue.
“Our material has unmatched properties that we really think will help innovate and improve a lot of different products out there,” she said.
