Biodesign Programme
Developed at Stanford University, Biodesign aims at improved medical care by providing a novel entrepreneurial program to selected interdisciplinary teams and by creating new businesses. After initial training,the team is immersed in a clinic for a month to observe its processes. The team’s sole task during immersion is to identify 100–200 needs that have not been optimally met. After immersion, the team will brainstorm and analyze these needs in order to determine the most important and solvable ones. Eventually, one need will be chosen and a solution developed for clinical use and commercialization.
During the brainstorming and development phase, the team will be aided by a network of mentors, coaches, and stakeholders: clinicians, patient group representatives, scientists, engineers, IT experts, designers, and entrepreneurs. Depending on the technical or medical problem at hand, volunteer experts are asked to participate in some of the brainstorming sessions. One or two teams will participate in Biodesign training in each year; most of them are expected to lead to commercialization either in startups or existing companies.
