Special Sessions

Developing Open Standards Facilitates Technology Commercialization

Wednesday, July 18 8:00am – 9:30am Meeting Room 304AB

Organizers:
Carole C. Carey, Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Esteben J Pino, Universidad de Concepcion

Rapid changes in medical technology and innovation in medical devices require a general guidance to ensure their usefulness to benefit public health as well as improved quality of life. This is what standards are for. Standards provide a general framework on what is expected, a common language to describe these new technologies and minimal performance requirements, to ensure repeatable and reliable results. The need for standardization is evident in order to produce quality, safe, reliable products as well as low costs. IEEE Standards Association participants drive the development of IEEE international standards in an open environment. IEEE-SA brings together experts from academia, government and companies to find consensus and promote the development of new solutions in diverse areas. The purpose of this special session is to present the work of current initiatives and engage people to collaborate or propose new areas where standards are needed.

CANCELED Early-Career Researcher Mentoring: Transitioning from Graduate Studentship to a Professional Career

Thursday, July 19 8:00am – 9:30am Meeting Room 328

Academic Entrepreneur: Accelerating Innovation in Biomedical Engineering

Friday July 20 8:00am – 9:30am Room 328

Organizers:
Jie Lian, Klarquist Sparkman, LLP

Yongii Fu, Hill-Rom

The last four decades have witnessed great strides in fusing engineering and medicine to improve healthcare.  With the rapid development and availability of new engineering tools such as data mining, nanotechnology, novel biomaterials, lab-on-a-chip system design, etc., biomedical engineering is reaching the cusp of a new era of innovation. Thanks to the large talent pool and interdisciplinary environment, universities and research institutions have always been at the forefront of technological innovation in biomedical engineering.  However, despite the tremendous potentials, challenges remain on how to rapidly, efficiently integrate and translate these new technologies into novel and effective diagnostic or therapeutic applications. Many hurdles exist between academic research and commercialization, including organizational barriers, financial barriers, and regulatory barriers.  For example, academic researchers often lack sufficient business training and mentoring, have unstable resources in terms of workforce and funding, and have limited experience in navigating complex legal and regulatory environment. To overcome such hurdles, a number of initiates have been developed, such as the university-based incubators, entrepreneur-in-residence programs, public-private research partnerships, etc. In this Special Session, we organize a panel of experts representing different sectors in the field of biomedical engineering to discuss the best practices in translational research. The topics will cover university start-ups and social entrepreneurship, public and private funding sources, intellectual property management, and regulatory risk management. Attendees are encouraged to interact with the expert panel to identify problems and brainstorm solutions. The goal is to provide attendees a broader perspective and better understanding of translational research and innovation management, and foster transforming the fruits of academic research into successful commercialization.