Medical device innovation & ideas

Successfully performed in more than 40,000 patients worldwide, spine arthroplasty can reduce pain and disability while preserving motion. In contrast to traditional fusion techniques, artificial disc and nucleus replacements allow the spine to continue to move and may protect against adjacent disc degeneration. For carefully selected patients, it can transform their lives. International leader in spinal surgery, Dr Jack Zigler, Medical Director at the Texas Back Institute, discusses the latest medical innovations in spine arthroplasty and the findings at the ISSAS in March.

Patrick Driscoll, founder of MedMarket Diligence, a company that provides tactical information and insights into the medical technology industry, has offered up some advice for innovators who are looking for research funding in order to bring their ideas to market in these challenging financial times.

The European healthcare sector is a rich source of medical device innovation but taking a product to market is fraught with hurdles. Working with an incubator that specialises in entrepreneurial investments is a viable alternative to partnering with a major company and can both ease and accelerate that process…

Personalised medicine – tailoring treatments to a patient’s genes, environment and other characteristics – has come to the fore in recent years. But what does its growth mean to those working in medical devices? And how does it intersect with another burgeoning area, nanotechnology? We meet a nanotechnology business developer to find out.

You may think that coming up with a killer idea is the hardest part of the innovation process, but there are many other potential barriers to turning your inventive idea into a market-ready product. We meet doctor-turned-innovator Will Nicolson and policy expert Herb Riband to hear about the issues that they think can limit innovation in Europe, and what you can do to beat them.

Prof Christopher Bettinger was recently named as one of Technology Review’s ‘innovators under 35’ for his work in developing the next generation of medical devices. We spoke to him about his influences, his innovation process and how his ‘unbridled curiosity’ has kept him supplied with ideas.

One of the fastest developing areas in medical technology is e-health. This field of innovative medical informatics concerns delivery of health services and information using the internet and related technologies and has already transformed the way a health authority works. Here we look at some of the challenges and opportunities MedTech innovators have in this rich field

Your intellectual property rights are precious and you need to make sure you have everything in place to protect those rights before you start discussing your idea with anyone. Here, we talk to the UK Intellectual Property Office to clarify the importance of doing things by the book during the innovation process

Sometimes it’s frustration over the way a medical device performs that is the inspiration for something new. We talk to a young doctor who has been through the process of identifying a problem and solving it through innovation

From reverse innovation to mHealth, emerging markets are becoming adept at tailoring products and procedures to the needs of their growing populations and meeting the challenges of healthcare provision in the developing world is one of the richest seams to mine for innovation ideas

How do you know when you (and your idea) are ready for the big time? Here are a few tips to show you the way, or remind you if you're already en route.

You have an idea and have made a prototype, how do you get the money to take your idea to the next stage?

Anyone can have an idea; the key to converting an idea to an invention is to clearly define the idea such that the idea can be evaluated, enhanced, potentially marketed and used. Here are some suggested steps to help you convert your idea into an invention.

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"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination"
- A. Einstein