The Partnership for Economic Innovation (PEI) has secured $1.2 million in combined public-private funding for six Arizona-based health technology projects through its Applied Research Centers, with each project partnered with Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, or Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science for independent research validation.
The cohort includes Prickly Pear Health, a personalized AI-powered app supporting women’s brain health through voice-based journaling, mood tracking, and science-backed insights during perimenopause and hormonal shifts. Also relevant: Serenity Neurotechnologies is developing an ultrasound-powered wearable to treat chronic migraines without pharmaceuticals – a condition that disproportionately affects women – and UnityCare is building a wristband and patch system to detect cardiac events like arrhythmias.
“This funding gives us a runway to move faster, and the PEI Applied Research Centers has the connections to do it right,” said Prickly Pear Health founder and CEO Imen Maaroufi Clark. “There is no better place to build the future of women’s health than Arizona.”
PEI’s Applied Research Centers model is designed to de-risk early-stage medtech investment and compress the timeline from research to market. Since 2019, the program has guided more than 35 health technology projects through development stages from prototyping to FDA approval pathways. The $600K in state funding from the Arizona Commerce Authority is matched by private and non-state funds from industry partners.
