Industrial Partnerships in BME Design 2007 BME idea Meeting

1. Industrial Partnerships in BME Design2007 BME idea Meeting Jay R. Goldberg, PhD, PE Marquette University Mary Beth Privitera, M. Design University of Cincinnati

2. Introduction • Several ways to work with industrial partners • Many benefits of industry involvement in BME design courses • Students • Faculty • University • Company sponsors • Requirements for successful collaboration • Experiences at Marquette University and the University of Cincinnati

3. Industry Participation • Guest lecturers • Curriculum advisors • Design project sponsors and advisors • Assistance with prototyping and testing • Design competition judges • Professional development activities

4. Benefits of Industry Partners: • Students • Opportunity to work on real-world problems • Exposure to medical device industry/market • Experience with project management, product development process • Familiarity with constraints of medical device design (technical, economic, regulatory) • Up-to-date treatment of topics by guest lecturers • Access to resources for prototyping, testing • Full-time employment

5. Benefits of Industry Partners: • Company Sponsors • Availability of additional technical resources dedicated to solving problem • team of students • little or no cost • allows work on low priority projects • Participation in training of new engineers • Advertising of company on campus • Access to pool of graduating engineers

6. Benefits of Industry Partners: • Academic Institutions • Building of relationships with industry (research collaboration and grants) • Maintenance of high quality design course and design project experience • Maintenance of relevant curriculum that prepares students for careers in BME • Access to additional resources to complete projects • Analytical tools, modeling software • Prototype construction • Testing • Funding to support design programs

7. Requirements for Successful Partnerships: • Commitment of time and resources • Funding to cover cost of prototypes • Intellectual property agreements • Nondisclosure • Patent assignment • Rights to publish • Flexibility

8. Experience at Marquette • Industry advisor • Customer needs, technical expertise, design approval • Faculty advisor – grading, discipline, etc. • Students can sign NDA’s, IP agreements • Appropriate two-semester projects: • Low priority (attractive to startup companies) • New products, line extensions, enhancements • Process improvements • Design of test equipment, procedures

9. Experience at Cincinnati • All of the above. • Partnering company participates as: • Team member • Holds weekly meetings with team • Faculty advisors – manage scope and expectations • Match appropriateness of deliverables with level of students participating • Recruits various types of students to participate, e.g. Industrial Design, EE, ME, Business, etc. • Types of projects: • Patient Interface in 5-10 years • Tissue measurement devices • Clinical Procedure Development

10. Summary • Industry partnerships in BME design: • Enhance curricula • Enrich project experience • Help prepare students for careers • Provide many benefits to companies, academic institutions, and students