Over 500 individuals

have signed online since September

1. Free, global exchange of data & knowledge (including ideas, problems, solutions, etc.) across traditional barriers (corporate/university, geographic, etc.), enabling crowd-sourcing and open innovation

2. New corporate internships for the experiential education of next-generation workforce

3. A first-of-its-kind “high net-knowledge network” that can be easily adapted to other disciplines

“Creating a Sustainable Network for Bioengineering Innovation and Translational Research”

University of VirginiaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering

PI: Thomas C. Skalak Co PIs: James Aylor, William Walker, Arthur Garson NSF Award #IIP-0650253 3 Year Award Start Date: 15 March 2007

1.Securing agreements with corporations to post/share challenges or problems for community-based input

2.Broadly publicizing the professional network

3.Striking a balance between network content, functionality, and usage

Program Activities:

Partners:

Key Attributes of our Innovation Ecosystem:

Questioning & Curiosity:• How does EU and Asian bioengineering design differ from U.S. education? The differences define opportunity!

•What would motivate companies to post key needs/ & market –pull concepts?

Risk Taking:

•Invested in web functions before all proof-of-concept completed

•International idea exchange, despite I.P barriers

Openness:

•Allowed all partners to join – no filtering

•No preferred sponsor location - site organized by people and ideas

Collaboration Across Fields:

•Devices and biologics

•Arts, economics, architecture, sciences, and engineering

•Process engineering (Six Sigma) vs. “upstream innovation”

Placing Partners in “New Environments” & “Playgrounds”:

•Key driver for the “Global Network” concept

•See BMEplanet’s “Idea” spaces to play

Leading/Inspiring of Surprising or Unexpected Results:

•Open innovation allows users to define own goals and partners

•Value proposition follows emerging partners, not pre-defined

•Rapid social network allows group intelligence to self-assemble, globally

National Science Foundation Partnerships For InnovationGrantee’s Meeting April 25-27, 2010 Arlington, VA. .PFI .

the global bioengineering network

300 organizations

.44 countries.6 continents.

Powering Web 2.0 solutions that acceleratebioengineering research, education, innovation.

ideasopen innovation

workspacesglobal collaborationopportunitiesnext-generation workforce

networkingonline contact book

messagingreal-time communication

@BMEplanet.org

Internships:5 International internships (2009 and 2010)

126 industrial internships with 52 companies

Funded by National Science

Foundation &

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Facilitates new person-to-person linksAccelerates BME education research & innovation•International corporate internships•Multi-university design projects•Capstone incubators for translational knowledge•Enhanced access to corporate marketsRaises the awareness of the field globallyIncreases productivity and improves human health & dignity•Experiential education of bioengineering talent for the workforce Enhanced translation of bioengineering knowledge to products & services in the clinic•Researchers find one another, establish new points of contact & new collaborations•Students find internships anywhere around the world, with the intent of getting better hands-on, immersive experience in their formative training•Faculty and students to create collaborative project workspaces to foster innovation•Faculty and students get their latest ideas/technologies into the mainstream to enhance translation of research into products and services

We have grown from 27 initial “charter” organizations to over 300 universities, corporations, non-profits, government agencies, and investment partners in 44 countries on 6 continents

Website went live Sept. 24, 2009

Brief Project Overview:Our project is enhancing innovation in bioengineering by creating a sustainable global network of university and corporate partners for the experiential education of new talent for the bioengineering workforce and improved translation of new bioengineering knowledge to products and services. The two major themes are "upstream innovation" and "globally distributed design." Upstream innovation is the concept that parallel, early interaction between business, scientific, engineering, legal, and marketing components can positively impact the level of innovation. Upstream innovation is being implemented by the creation of integrated Capstone Design teams, student internships at companies of varying size and maturity. Our global bioengineering network is viewable online at www.bmeplanet.org

Top Contributions/Outcomes:

Top Challenges:

A Better Mouse Model for Brain Cancer Research. Freiburg, GermanyDiana Burk spent part of the summer at the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg, Germany. She helped test a new mouse model for a deadly form of brain cancer.

Faster, Cheaper TuberculosisDiagnosis for Clinics in Africa"Development of a low cost transmission-type fluorescent microscope for use in automated tuberculosis diagnostics".  

The device shown in the picture was the 1st prototype of the LED- transmission based microscope.  It will eventually be used for automated diagnosis of TB in poorly developed countries by examining sputum samples. Internship in Cape Town, South Africa

Charlottesville, VA

Winner 2009 poster competition. All interns in the program prepare a poster and present it at a symposium to share their collective results.

www.BMEplanet.org is a global sustainable network that helps to facilitate discovery & innovation.