The 2018 Perth Biodesign course was officially launched on Wednesday 28th March, with an event at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation featuring talks from 2017 SPARK Co-Lab Design Course alumni as well as world leading burns specialist and medtech entrepreneur, Dr Fiona Wood.
Perth Biodesign is the new name for the course that has previously been run as the SPARK Co-Lab Design Course, and will run as a partnership between Accelerating Australia and SPARK Co-Lab. Information sessions for the new Perth Biodesign course got underway on the 12th of March with a series of roadshow events, and applications are now open for interested candidates.
Accelerating Australia is also pleased to announce that, thanks to newly renewed funding from MTPConnect, the Perth Biodesign course will be rolled out nationally this year, beginning with Adelaide in May.
Course Overview
Perth Biodesign will be run as a six-month program, based on the Stanford Biodesign methodology and adapted to the specific needs of the Australian ecosystem. In its previous iteration as the SPARK Co-Lab Design Course, the program produced multiple successful teams with many great business opportunities. Participants operate within a team of at least one clinician, engineer, business professional or scientists, with a maximum of five people per team.
The course begins with a clinical immersion designed to teach participants how to identify clinical unmet needs and develop a compelling business case to meet this need. The teams prioritise a particular unmet need and then develop new device concepts to fit the market and intellectual property landscape. During the second part of the course, teams develop their business strategy, covering IP, product development, regulatory affairs, reimbursement, funding and commercialisation. Perth Biodesign is fortunate to be able to work with a network of over 70 experienced professionals who provide input into these projects.
The 2017 course saw six teams of five, including surgeons, allied health professionals, engineers, students, senior scientists, business managers, and serial entrepreneurs, discover over 400 unmet needs in their clinical observations. Projects from last years’ teams included addressing the management of inflammatory bowel disease, detecting early infections in orthopedic implants and diagnostic tools for developmental coordination disorders.
Perth Biodesign aims to provide a real-life experience of biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship in a safe environment. Bonus benefits are the development of a proprietary medical device business opportunity, a substantial life sciences industry network, a business plan, a well-tested team, and investment pitch opportunities.
About Accelerating Australia
Accelerating Australia (www.acceleratingaustralia.com) is a national consortium seeking to boost biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship by providing experiential training programs, international and national linkages, and biomedical enterprise support. Our consortium includes over 20 universities, research institutions, companies and healthcare providers.
