Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) has joined PracticePoint, a membership-based, cyber-physical medtech R&D and commercialization alliance founded by Worcester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
PracticePoint is an agile, scalable collaborative research facility featuring point-of-practice clinical suites — including a residential suite, rehabilitative care suite, controlled care suite, and surgical imaging suite — co-located with engineering and manufacturing capabilities and test equipment, where devices and systems can be researched, developed, and tested.
PracticePoint members, including public and private universities, research institutions, clinical partners, industry, and innovators, can collaborate on developing and incorporating cyber-physical systems into medical devices and equipment. These new products and systems can improve performance, security, accuracy, timeliness, costs, and outcomes in human healthcare, according to the organization.
Members also have access to PracticePoint’s facilities, research support, and WPI faculty expertise, and may work with student teams on long-term research projects.
“We’re very excited to have Boston Scientific recognize the potential for PracticePoint to further its research and development program and more quickly develop, iterate, and perfect medical technologies that can have a truly meaningful impact on patients,” said PracticePoint director Greg Fischer in a prepared statement.
PracticePoint was launched in 2017 with a $5 million matching grant from the Massachusetts Baker-Polito Administration and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC). Founding partners are the MTC, GE Healthcare, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and WPI.