Portfolio


Cosmo by Filisia

Embodied cognition
Product


2014-2017

Founder and director of edtech/IoT startup company that works in the intersection of learning, design and the arts. Our first product is Cosmo. filisia.com


Cosmo: Accessible gaming and multimedia interfaces used in learning and therapy


Filisia is a multi-award-winning company that reimagines play and therapy for early-year learners and people with additional needs. Our first product is Cosmo, a platform of interactive IoT devices, iPad applications and data analytics tools used in education and elderly care settings. Cosmo also collects and reports data on users’ abilities, offering a comprehensive data-driven approach to therapy.

Cosmo comprises of modular, dynamic, hardware controllers and a software platform with interactive software exercises. The exercises help train cognitive, communication and motor skills through games and musical expression. Therapists and educators can select among various interactions that support the development of: Joint Attention, Turn Taking, Choice Making, Collaboration, Motor Skills, Language, Waiting, Transitions, Storytelling, Executive Function, Sensory Awareness. 

Cosmo has been co-designed with 200+ special educators, therapists, students and parents. It is currently being used by 10,000 children & adults, in over 1000 schools, hospitals and therapy centres, in 26 countries in Europe, Asia, US and in Australia.

Since 2014, as a director, I’ve helped raise £600k in venture and grant funding and overviewed the product development as well as set the vision, strategy and business goals together with my co-founders and advisors. I’ve worked with software, electronics and mechanical engineers as well as parents, therapists, doctors, teachers and users across the product research and development phase. I undertook several parts of product development from need finding, to early prototyping, feature setting, validation of product-market fit, beta testing and designing the business and pricing model.






Awards & Distinctions

Best ICT for Special Education, BETT Awards, 2017
Best Health and Social Care Technology by IoTUK Boost, Digital Catapult and Cambridge Wireless in the UK, 2016
Emerge Education Accelerator Alumni, 2016
Tech For Good Award Finalists by BT and AbilityNet, 2016
Clinton Global Initiative University Fellows, 2014-2015
Winners of the Social Innovation Tournament, European Investment Bank, 2014
Social Impact Award Winners by the Impact Hub Greece, 2014
Innovation in Access to Healthcare, Ashoka Changemakers, 2014
Sirius Programme Alumni, UK Trade and Investment, 2014


Partners

University of Birmingham, School of Education
Goldsmiths University of London, "Music, Mind and the Brain"
UK Trade and Investment


Talks and Exhibitions

Talks at Internet of Things Meetup 2015, Tech for Good Meetup 2015, Hardware Pioneers Meetup 2016
Exhibitions at lnnovate2015, Connected Health Conference London 2015, Brain Injuries Technologies Think Tank Cambridge University 2015, BETT Show 2017, THLON# 25 Interaction Design in Special Education, SXSW Interactive 2016, London Mini Maker Faire 2017, Cambridge Science Festival 2018


In the press

Huffington Post, Forbes


We need a dream-world to discover the features
of the real world we think we inhabit.




About

I’m a London based strategic designer, and researcher. I’m interested in the boundary-muddlings of information, computation, minds and nature. My email is always open to ethersamplers, epistemic humorists, and ungoogleable souls.