Biodesign and Entrepreneurship for Biomedical Engineering : Design of a university based innovation laboratory for technical translation from bench to bedside

Abstract

Today's challenges in healthcare with a large number of unmet clinical needs, high regulatory and certification standards due to the new MDR EU 2017/745 and increasing costs for Research and Development make innovation and technology transfer difficult. The demand for faster innovations through technical translation and entrepreneurial understanding of the healthcare sector is increasing, especially for innovative training programs that teach how to tackle these challenges and develop with stakeholders. Early integration of innovation management and entrepreneurship in the academic education of biomedical engineering students is essential. The teaching approach “Identify, Invent, Implement together with Engineers, Medical Users and Economists”, a combination of Stanford Biodesign and the Design Thinking approach, teaches students to lead innovation processes, understand the everyday clinical practice, transfer technology to the user, and stimulate and implement startup intentions. The motivation of this thesis is to build an innovative research laboratory for medical technology and generate business startups from university projects through a creative and motivating environment close to the clinic, with a network of various stakeholders from medicine and industry. The Innovation Laboratory for Image Guided Therapies, a laboratory for innovation, research, and entrepreneurship form a network between academic engineering training, medicine, research, and economics. Creating an innovation ecosystem with essential resources within reach will increase the success and adaptation of innovations and train biomedical engineers with the appropriate skills to face the challenges of the 21st century.