The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) announced that it is accepting applications for its “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids” competition.
The competition will focus on pediatric devices that can be used in the orthopedic and spine sectors of pediatric devices. Companies that win will receive $50,000 and will be invited to participate in the new NCC-PDI “Pediatric Device Innovator Accelerator Program” that is put on by MedTech Innovator.
This is the sixth year that the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Health System and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland have put on the competition. The consortium also recently added new accelerators to the program, including BioHealth Innovation, MedTech Innovator and Smithwise as its design firm partner. The goal of the annual competition is to advance the development of medical devices for children and help participating innovators bring devices to market with the accelerator program.
“While sourcing and scouting are a continuous activity in our effort to find promising high potential pediatric device innovators, this pitch competition adds a layer of opportunity for companies to present live in front of a panel of judges, some of whom could become potential mentors and investors,” Kolaleh Eskandanian, VP and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Health System and a principal investigator at NCC-PDI, said in a press release. “This year we’re building on MedTech Innovator’s successful accelerator program by introducing the pediatric track.”
Some medical device companies don’t invest as much into researching and developing pediatric orthopedic devices because the market is small. There are about 3,000 to 4,000 pediatric orthopedic surgery cases reported each year. NCC-PDI collaborators are building devices for children who need implants and device that can fit growing bodies while also providing the best quality of life they can get.
“Innovators who choose to specialize in this market face a unique opportunity to improve quality of life not only for thousands of children, but also for their families and caregivers,” William Bentley, director of the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices at the University of Maryland, said. “We’ve long heard from pediatric orthopedic surgeons about the need for more innovation and it’s crucial because appropriately seized devices can significantly impact how well a child grows and thrives.”
Finalists for the competition will be announced on April 30. All of the finalists will present a five-minute pitch with a five-minute question and answer session to follow. A panel of multi-disciplinary judges will choose up to six winners.
“As a new member of NCC-PDI, we’re excited to introduce the selected orthopedic innovators to our ecosystem through the new accelerator track so that they receive in-depth, customized mentorship from some of medtech’s foremost industry leaders and investors,” Paul Grand, CEO of MedTech Innovator, said. “Our expertise is in identifying high quality, early-stage medical device companies that can translate basic science into commercial success and that’s what we look forward to accomplishing with the new cohort of grantees.”
The deadline for submitting device ideas is April 2.
