We're building the future of medical technologies
Streamlining the innovation process, the Med Tech Venture Studio at the Center for Medical Innovation is designed to turn ideas into commercially successful products.
Recognizing the challenges unique to developing new medical technologies, CMI takes a hands-on approach with the venture studio process, inviting inventors and industry experts to work together as collaborators focused on building technologically innovative, market-ready devices.
Good ideas can come from many places. We've designed our process to enable those ideas and cutting edge research from several sources including
- Principal Investigators (PIs), clinicians, staff, and researchers at the University of Utah
- Projects which have previously competed in CMI's Bench to Bedside Program
- External individuals or groups outside of the University of Utah (e.g. physicians from other healthcare systems)
- Projects identified from internal initiatives at the Center for Medical Innovation
Ready to get started?
If you're ready to change the future of healthcare, let's talk. Our team is looking for active collaborators to help us transform patient care and build the next generation of medical technologies.
- Phase 1: Problem Validation
- Phase II: Commercialization Validation
- Phase III: Prototype Development
- Phase IV: Regulatory & Quality Controls
- Phase V: Commercialization
-
Members of the CMI team meet with clinical staff, end-users, and the collaborator(s) to assess the impact of the problem and gather context for future decisions about further development. Projects with widespread impact and common shared frustrations are the most likely to progress to Phase II.
-
CMI performs engineering, regulatory, and market assessments for the project, identifying what opportunities and hurdles may exist for market entry and successful commercialization. Projects exhibiting significant market opportunity and are within the scope of CMI’s capabilities may proceed to Phase III.
-
Following predetermined iterative cycles of design, development, and feasibility testing, projects will progress through Phase III under the direction of CMI’s engineering teams. Needs-finding among end-users will drive decision making and design requirements before progressing to Phase IV.
-
Projects are advanced utilizing industry best practices within a Quality Management System (QMS) while also considering the requirements necessary for validation testing when seeking regulatory approval. The project moves to Phase V upon verification testing and successful FDA submission (when applicable).
-
In this final stage, all files and documentation relevant to the development of the product are transferred to a third-party manufacturer or licensee for continued development and eventual commercialization.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
-
Each project accepted into the Med Tech Venture Studio will have variable timelines. So projects may take more time to de-risk, while others may be further along in the development process when they come to CMI. A better idea of a project timeline will be determined during the initial consultation and comprehensive assessments in Phase 1 and Phase 2, respectively.
-
No. The current status of a project (including the development of the prototype) will be considered when evaluating projects to bring into the accelerator program. It may also affect long-term goals for the project as well as any potential royalty agreements.
-
We focus on physical devices. It's our specialty! Occasionally we will take on projects which are a combination medical device & supporting software application, but it's rare. We do not work on any pharmaceutical or therapeutic projects, or projects exclusively based on software or applications.