I work in physical goods, making an open source low cost biomedical imaging device. There is less funding for hardware development than software only companies/start ups, but we are at a point in mass manufacturing where we can making cheap reliable versions of many life saving tools. Medical devices are made harder due to time to go through regulatory compliance, insurance reimbursements and clinical trials which also add a lot of cost to development. We need a system of innovation that is less encumbered(yet safe) so that we can move med tech forward faster. I am interested in working on(I am doing this currently) such systems—a well-funded open source effort of carefully curated R&D projects, which do not take the risks to make medical claims is the way. Then those who wish to productise for a particular diagnosis, take the open source implementation and go through the venture funnel/insurance and FDA.
I work in physical goods, making an open source low cost biomedical imaging device. There is less funding for hardware development than software only companies/start ups, but we are at a point in mass manufacturing where we can making cheap reliable versions of many life saving tools. Medical devices are made harder due to time to go through regulatory compliance, insurance reimbursements and clinical trials which also add a lot of cost to development. We need a system of innovation that is less encumbered(yet safe) so that we can move med tech forward faster. I am interested in working on(I am doing this currently) such systems—a well-funded open source effort of carefully curated R&D projects, which do not take the risks to make medical claims is the way. Then those who wish to productise for a particular diagnosis, take the open source implementation and go through the venture funnel/insurance and FDA.