Insights: video

The therapies that have the ability to make a difference are locked inside university labs or under funded start-ups. Mark presented that problem to his colleagues in the WEF’s Young Global Leaders during an education module in Oxford along with my fiancée Simone George. The result was the formation of an initiative called the Druid Collective and a $5 million investment fund to develop spinal stimulation technology that will change people’s lives in the next 5 years.

Mark began working with Microsoft on a series of data and cloud computing projects alongside students at Imperial College London and University College London.

Mark’s rollercoaster story of blindness, spinal cord injury and work to cure paralysis with his fiancee, Simone George, is chronicled over the course of six years in Unbreakable – The Mark Pollock Story. Director, Ross Whitaker, said: “The film is really a testament to the power of human relationships and the human spirit to challenge seemingly unsurmountable obstacles.”

After walking for the first time in 2012, Mark went on to become the world’s leading test pilot of Ekso Bionics robotic legs. And, during the early years of walking, Mark worked with the Ekso Bionics team to stress test components for the next generation Ekso GT.

Mark follows in the footsteps of Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen during a 43 day expedition race with temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees. After man hauling sledges over 1,000 kilometres with his teammates, Simon O’Donnell and Inge Solheim, Mark became the first blind man to race to the South Pole.

Award winning documentary maker, Ross Whitaker, created a mini-series of videos tracking Mark’s preparation, training and race to the South Pole. This formed the basis for the documentary Blind Man Walking released in 2010.