UCL has joined forces with international medical devices company Smiths Medical to launch a ground-breaking Discovery Lab.
The Discovery Lab is an innovative way of developing new technologies in healthcare. The aim of the lab is to help industry and clinicians work more closely and effectively together to develop and evaluate novel technologies. Ultimately, it will seek to develop technology and devices that are not only commercially viable but that will better meet the needs of clinicians and their patients.
The Discovery Lab will set up a panel of experts that will collaborate to identify trends in health care and the potential for innovative products. These experts will discuss unmet technological needs in specific clinical areas and then select projects for development.
As part of its commitment to the Discovery Lab, Smiths Medical is also funding a medical innovator and a project manager to take forward selected projects. The medical innovator, for the first year, is Dr Simeon West, a consultant at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Some of the first areas to be looked at include: airway, pain, temperature and infusion. The aim is to identify a small number of projects that meet both the research interest of UCL and the product development interest and expertise of Smiths Medical. These projects may be looking at a wide area of need or researching the implications of a particular piece of technology.
Smiths Medical Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care Professor Monty Mythen said: “This opens up new ways of working for us. It gives clinicians and researchers at UCL the opportunity to discuss highly speculative ideas with industry – these are ideas which we would not normally discuss with our industry partners simply because they are not mature enough. But in fact these ideas have great commercial potential.”
Smiths Medical President Srini Seshadri welcomed the latest development in a long partnership between Smiths Medical and UCL. “The Discovery Lab is a tremendous opportunity to work with a world-class healthcare organization and focus our new product development on technology and products that will directly address the clinical and economic challenges of today’s healthcare community. Bringing the clinical expertise of UCL together with the engineering expertise of Smiths Medical helps us drive our mission to help healthcare providers make every intervention successful.”
Director of the UCL Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Professor Quentin Pankhurst, said: “We are delighted to be working with Smiths Medical in this new and exciting way. Strong academic-clinical-industry partnerships are vital in bringing the very best of new medical technologies into hospitals and homes.
“The people at Smiths Medical have a tremendous depth of experience in bringing medical devices all the way from concept into practice. By bringing UCL's unparalleled breadth of expertise and innovative spirit into the mix, we are very much expecting great things. Watch this space!”
Smiths Medical has worked with UCL since 1991. The Discovery Lab is part of a new 3-year agreement for support from Smiths Medical.
About Smiths Medical
Smiths Medical www.smiths-medical.com is a leading supplier of specialized medical devices and equipment for global markets, focusing on the medication delivery, vital care and safety devices market segments. It is part of Smiths Group www.smiths.com, a global leader in applying advanced technologies for markets in threat and contraband detection, energy, medical devices, communications and engineered components.
