Honored & humbled 2018 TekneAward recipient! Lars Oddsson, PhD is a distinguished scientist, a visionary innovation leader and an entrepreneur. Faculty at the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, teaches in the Medical Device Innovation program. Adjunct Professor at the Dept of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Program in Rehabilitation Science, Medical School, University of Minnesota and Visiting Professor at the Ben-Gurion University in Israel. He has held academic positions at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, Boston University, MIT and Harvard Medical School. In 2007, Dr. Oddsson was recruited from Boston University to found the Sister Kenny Research Center at the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, Allina Health. He established an academic-like research department with over 30 clinicians involved in research activities, receiving federal research grants and implemented a unique model for innovation and early business development. As an entrepreneur, Dr. Oddsson is Co-Founder of RxFunction Inc., an NIH funded medical device start-up company based on Dr. Oddsson’s invention that commercializes walkasins®, a lower leg sensory neuroprosthesis that replaces lost foot pressure sensation to improve balance function and mobility. He is co-investigator and consultant to NASA on projects related to development of countermeasures to long-term spaceflight. Dr. Oddsson has served on the Board of Directors of LifeScience Alley (now Medical Alley), the Alley Institute and the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce. He has a broad background in neurophysiology, engineering, rehabilitation sciences and technology development, has served as principal investigator on federal as well as private foundations grants and he has authored numerous research articles in the areas of biomedical engineering, neuromotor control and rehabilitation science. He is a Senior Fellow of the IEEE and he holds several patents.