Creator of speech recognition-based video games for people with speech disorders wins judges’ vote and audience's vote

(PRUnderground) September 17th, 2024

SAY IT Labs, the creator of Stutter Stars, speech recognition-based video games designed for people with speech disorders, won the 15th annual Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition (EBPC) in New York City this month, earning the $40,000 grand prize and the $5,000 Osage Venture Partners Audience Choice prize, after receiving the most votes from a live audience of investors, researchers, and practitioners. SAY IT Labs won the Michael & Lori Milken Family Foundation Grand Prize following a live on-stage pitch presentation by CEO, Director & Co-Founder, Erich Reiter. The pitch competition was held September 10 as part of HolonIQ’s 23rd annual ‘Back to School Summit’ and aims to reward startups trying to address the challenges facing education. The summit featured attendees from Google, Amazon Web Services, Goldman Sachs, Harvard Business School, IBM, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the U.S. Department of Education, UNICEF, and many other organizations.

“We are incredibly grateful to the audience, the judges, Penn GSE, HolonIQ and everyone who has shown appreciation for our vision, which is to support people with speech disabilities,” said Erich Reiter, CEO, Director and Co-Founder, SAY IT Labs. “The other six finalists were incredibly impressive so it is humbling to be in their company and to have earned this prize, which will help to forward our mission as
our company continues to grow.”

Winning both the grand prize and the audience choice prize are major milestones for SAY IT Labs, as the Milken-Penn GSE EBPC is considered the most prestigious and well-funded competition of its kind, worldwide. To date, the EPBC has awarded more than $2 million in prizes, and its winners have gone on to earn more than $200 million in funding.

SAY IT Labs, founded in 2019, is a Belgium-based “spin-off” from the University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (imec). To date, the company has won four business pitching competitions, earned third place at the China-European Innovation Fair, and was a finalist in the ChangeNow.org competition and the European Social Innovation tournament. SAY IT Labs has also earned grants totaling $1.6 million.

SAY IT Labs develops proprietary artificial intelligence-based speech recognition technology designed to support children and adults with speech disorders and combines its state-of-the-art technology with best practices in speech therapy to create video games with the goal of motivating and improving independent practice. Reiter, a former speech scientist at Nuance Communications, the original developers of Apple’s SIRI, is also a Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP). He started SAY IT Labs with Dr. Lukas Latacz, the company’s CTO, Director and Co-Founder. Latacz holds a PhD in computer science and spent several years as a post-doctoral researcher specializing in speech recognition algorithms targeting atypical speech often seen in people with speech disabilities.

Stutter Stars (formerly known as Fluency Friends) is available through the Apple App Store and on Google Play. It is used by hundreds of individuals per month in countries across the world, including the United States, Canada, Australia, England, Ireland, South Africa, Latvia, and Sweden. The tool is also used by U.S. schools in New York, Missouri, and California.

SAY IT Labs plans to reinvest its prize money into the company by continuing to develop its solution for
articulation disorders and seeks to raise new capital in the U.S. market.

Reiter can be made available for Zoom-based interviews with select media outlets worldwide or in-person broadcast interviews in Belgium, France, Germany, or the Netherlands.

To learn more about SAY IT Labs, visit www.sayitlabs.com/about-us.

About SAY IT Labs

SAY IT Labs is a technology company that leverages state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to develop speech recognition-based video games designed for people with speech disorders. Based in Leuven, Belgium, and a spin-off from the University of Brussels, SAY IT Labs was co-founded by a former speech scientist at Nuance Communications, the original developers of Apple’s SIRI, who is also a Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP), and by a computer science PhD who specializes in speech recognition algorithms that can target atypical speech patterns characteristic of people with speech disabilities. Its app, Stutter Stars, is used by individuals and schools across the world.
Learn more about SAY IT Labs at www.sayitlabs.com.

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Original Press Release.