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“For years, universities thought that it was enough to invent something and throw it over the fence for the business world to implement it,” Yock said. “But it’s an imperfect model. The interaction of stakeholders involved in the introduction of new medical technologies into patient care is incredibly complex. You have to take all their points of view into account before you even start to invent.
“The fundamental premise is that innovation is a discipline – a process that can be learned, practiced and perfected,” said Makower, professor of applied biomedical engineering at Boston Scientific and principal architect of the invention approach known as the name of innovation process in biodesign.
Train innovators
Stanford Biodesign’s first educational offering was the Innovation Fellowship, a full-time hands-on program in which, over the course of an academic year, 12 healthcare professionals, engineers, and business experts work as a team to identify unmet needs; examine these needs to determine which problem, if resolved, would have the greatest impact on patient care; invent a solution; and prepare it for the market.
Added later were project-based graduate and undergraduate courses in which medical, engineering and business students learn and apply the process of biodesign in a more abbreviated manner. The center has also developed a Stanford School of Medicine and Engineering scholarship interested in entrepreneurship, an executive training program and seed grant programs so that interns can work on promising projects after completing their scholarships and courses.
Stanford Biodesign has trained 182 innovation researchers, 2,225 Stanford students and 74 Stanford faculty members. Fifty-two companies were founded on the basis of technologies invented at Stanford Biodesign, and those technologies – like a wrist stimulator that relieves hand tremors caused by essential tremors and a wound irrigation system that prevents surgical site infections – have helped more than 4 million patients.
“My goal was to equip young innovators with the tools, expertise and connections they need to identify significant issues in healthcare, invent medical devices that solve those issues, and bring those devices to the bedside. patient to help providers and patients who need it, ”said Yock, Martha Meier Weiland Chair and Stanford Biodesign Director Emeritus.
Sharing the Biodesign process
To help innovators beyond Stanford, Yock, Makower and their team have codified their innovation process into a one-of-a-kind manual. Biodesign: the innovation process of medical technologies is in its second edition; has sold over 20,000 copies; and has been translated into Japanese, Chinese and Korean. More recently, Stanford Biodesign has developed a set of more accessible learning materials: The biodesign student guide, a modular multimedia series, is accessible free of charge to everyone in the world.
For years, universities thought that it was enough to invent something and throw it over the fence for the business world to implement it.
To disseminate its approach to aspiring innovators around the world, Stanford Biodesign has developed partnership programs in India, Japan, Ireland and Singapore, among others. Some of these programs started out as joint fellowships where interns from other countries came to Stanford to learn the biodesign process and then returned home to demonstrate the process in their own countries. The objective is to respond to the problems of taking charge abroad as well as to launch innovation training programs. The center has helped inspire and advise over 30 educational programs in 18 countries.
After completing an educational program with Stanford Biodesign, some interns start companies to bring their technologies to market, while others return to medical practice with a new understanding of how to assess and solve problems that they see. Still others are leading innovation within large health technology companies. Almost all alumni share their knowledge and expertise with aspiring innovators, creating a multiplier effect, said Yock: “The real product of Stanford Biodesign is the innovators we train. ”
Stanford Biodesign has also launched initiatives to improve racial and gender diversity within Stanford Biodesign programs and in the broader innovation community. An example is Diversity through action, which is dedicated to enhancing diversity and inclusion in the healthcare technology innovation ecosystem.
Stanford Biodesign alumni say the program has profoundly affected the way they approach their work.
“You don’t think of issues the same way after you graduate,” said Dorothea Koh, a 2008 scholar and serial innovator who started an artificial intelligence chatbot assistant for physicians that provides instant, hospital-specific answers to medication questions. , clinical tools, hospital protocols and more in Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia. “It comes down to a very simple mission, which is to help people.”
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