The Medical Device Innovation Camp (MEDIC) at IIT Bombay that was inaugurated on 28th September and concluded on 2nd October had 60 participants from Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Kolkata, Guwahati, Kanpur, Chandigarh, Patiala, Jodhpur, Goa, Surathkal, Cochin, Bengaluru, Chennai, Bhimavaram and other parts of India. They formed 15 inter-disciplinary teams, each led by a doctor, and created proofs-of-concept of innovative solutions for various medical problems provided by top doctors from various hospitals. The Biomedical Engineering and Technology incubation Centre (BETiC) of IITB along with 5 engineering and 5 medical institutes across Maharashtra who have set up BETiC cells, organized the five day Camp.
Dr. Rupesh Ghyar, Chief Mentor of BETiC, said “Participants did not know what problem they will solve, did not know who will be their team members, and what will be the tools and techniques for solving the problems.” Each team is led by a doctor, supported by design, electronics and mechanical engineers. Most of them are industry professionals, entrepreneurs and teachers; a few are final year students. They were invited to the Camp after passing a screening round based on their domain expertise and creative potential.
Also Read: BETiC, IIT-B Launches 5th Edition Of Medical Device Innovation Camp For Working Professionals
The results are impressive, going by the comments of about 50 senior doctors from top hospitals in Mumbai, Pune and other cities who gathered at IITB to evaluate the team presentations. Dr. Manish Agarwal from Hinduja Hospital, Dr. Hemant Bhansali from Nanavati Hospital, Dr. Alaric Aroojis from Wadia Hospital, Dr. Dasmit Singh from BJ Medical College, Pune and others who are associated with various medical device projects at BETiC, grilled the participants while offering many useful suggestions.
There were three groups of devices – screening, surgical and assistive, and five categories of prizes, one each for novelty, research, design, engineering and impact. Screening devices that won prizes in above categories included intra cranial pressure measurement, lung volume measurement, continuous blood glucose monitoring, preterm delivery detection, and peripheral vascular disease detection. Device that won prizes in other groups were anti-bacterial microbiology, nasal bleeding blocker, smart surgery head lights, tumour margin guidance, portable ventilator, splints for burns, sleep apnea preventer, below-knee stump measurement, moving orbital prosthesis, and clubfoot deformity measurement.
The prizes were given away by Dr. Mohit Gamhir, Director-Innovation of Ministry of HRD, Delhi, Dr. Nishigandha Naik, Director of Haffkine Institute, Dr. Anita Aggarwal from Department of S&T, Delhi, Dr. Arun Sapre, Mr. Anil Manekar and Dr. Pragati Gokhale from RG S&T Council, Maharashtra Government, Mr. Hiten Gandhi from Maharashtra State Innovation Society, Prof. B.B. Ahuja, Director of College of Engineering Pune, Prof. A.M. Kuthe, VNIT Nagpur, Mr. Deepankar Bhattarcharya from Autodesk Education, Bangalore and other invited dignitaries.
Dr. Mohit Gambhir, who had also chaired the presentation sessions said, “Innovation is what makes life easier. But innovation itself is a long and hard journey. I still cannot believe that the proof-of-concepts presented by the participants were given to them only 100 hours back, and they did not even know their team members. This shows what we can achieve with an exemplary eco-system like BETiC.”
Also Read: Haffkine And IITB-BETiC Join Hands To Promote Medical Device Innovation
Prof. B. Ravi, founder of BETiC briefly shared the journey of BETiC and said “BETiC is like a ‘running partner’ to med-tech innovators, offering them water, glucose and encouragement to race faster to the finish line - putting their products in market. We are now planning to extend our expertise and services to other researchers and entrepreneurs, both within and outside IITB, by setting up a not-for-profit company. This is under active consideration of Maharashtra Government and IIT Bombay.”
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