Atlas of Knowledge launched to facilitate collaboration among academic institutions and the medtech industry
Eucomed and the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering are launching the joint project “Atlas of Knowledge”. Interactive cooperation with the medical device industry is a crucial factor of growth in Biomedical Engineering research and development across the globe.
Medical device manufacturing and marketing has become a global business, whereby small and medium sized companies (SMEs) belong to the leading institutions worldwide with respect to the MedTech field.
Due to financial and organisational limitations, SME companies are not always prepared to use state-of-the-art technologies and assessment techniques for medical devices. A technical, technological and intellectual property provision of academic institutions would support a timely and cost-effective development and manufacturing of medical devices and thus, increase the competitiveness of SME companies.
To foster such cooperation between academic institutions and the manufacturing medical device industry, the IFMBE (International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering) together with Eucomed will embark on a project entitled the “Atlas of Knowledge” in the field of medical devices.
The purpose of this Atlas is to collect and summarize the scientific and research potential of the IFMBE members and member institutions related to research expertises, accessibility of the facilities and equipment as well as realization of the engineering education in terms of efforts to collaborate with the medical device industry/corporation.
List of expertise includes:
- Active implants
- Artificial organs
- Biomaterials
- Biomechanics
- Cells and tissue engineering
- Cardiovascular engineering
- Diagnostic systems and biosensors
- Flow and rheology
- Imaging modalities
- Information and Communication Technology in Medicine
- Modelling and control of physiological and biological systems
- Nanotechnology in biology and medicine
- Neural engineering
- Patients safety
- Radiation therapy systems
- Rehabilitation engineering
- Surgery and intervention
- Telemedicine
- Testing and quality control of medical devices
- Therapeutic systems
The Atlas would bring together academic inventors and corporate R&D-scientists for the benefit of both parties. Due to the large number of IFMBE members – about 120.000 worldwide – IFMBE intends to start gathering data first Central Europe that is from Germany, Austria, Sweden and Poland as a model and then expand the project globally. Data is currently being collected which will hopefully allow for a launch of the electronic platform by the end of this year.
For more information, please contact Jan Wojcicki at [email protected]
Who we are
IFMBE
The International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) was established in 1959 to provide medical and biological engineering with a vehicle for international collaboration in research and practice of the profession. The Federation has a long history of encouraging and promoting international cooperation and collaboration in the use of science and engineering for improving health and quality of life.
The IFMBE is an organization with membership of national and transnational societies and an International Academy. At present there are 55 national members and 5 transnational members representing a total membership in excess of 120 000 worldwide. For more information visit www.ifmbe.org
Eucomed
Eucomed is the European medical technology industry association. Its mission is to make modern, innovative and reliable medical technology available to more people. Eucomed represents directly and indirectly 25,000 designers, manufacturers and suppliers of medical technology used in the diagnosis, prevention, treatment and amelioration of disease and disability. Small and medium sized companies make up more than 95% of this sector. The market size is estimated at roughly € 100 billion while around 8% of sales revenue is ploughed back into research and development. The industry employs more than 575,000 highly skilled workers. For more information visit www.eucomed.org.