A Multidisciplinary Biomedical Product Development Course Incorporating Entrepreneurial Thinking

Elizabeth Friis & James Baxendale, University of Kansas

Biomedical Product Development is a multidisciplinary course taught in the mechanical engineering department at Kansas University. The course is open to senior/graduate students from any discipline. The goals are to learn: 1)R&D required to develop an invention into a marketable product; 2)regulatory issues; 3)quality system controls in manufacturing; 4)product feasibility and commercialization processes; and 5)the business aspects of starting and sustaining a company. In the last iteration of the class, thirty-four students from engineering,
industrial design, and business enrolled. Nine E-Teams explored the development of faculty and industry biomedical product inventions. Team deliverables were the submission of a preliminary Design History
File, including business plan, and a mock NIH Fast-Track SBIR proposal, complete with a commercialization plan. Engineering faculty taught the course with the Director of Technology Transfer and a Business
School GTA. Attendance at the KU E’ship TLC (http://eship.engr. ku.edu/) was required to supplement business topics. In this session, techniques and outcomes of this unique course are presented.