Interested in DesignWise Medical’s unique business model and growing success, Fran Howard of the Twin Cities Business Magazine highlighted the company in the recent July 2011 issue. Retracing how company founder and CEO Brad Slaker first created the idea for the company, the article focuses on DesignWise Medical’s response to the challenges of the pediatric medical device market today. Howard highlights several of the company’s projects, as well as the unique relationship between DesignWise Medical volunteers and students.
Find the article online here.
Chosen as a finalist from forty entries in the 2011 Mosaic Social Entrepreneurs’ Cup, DesignWise Medical made their final presentation on Thursday, June 16th at the EPCON conference, hosted by Social Venture Partners of Minnesota. In attendance were over 450 people including social entrepreneurs, charitable foundations, engaged philanthropists, students and many others interested in making a difference through social entrepreneurship. The finalists with DesignWise Medical were GiveMN, HourCar, and Mind Body Solutions. Each was given only eight minutes to make their pitch to the judges and DesignWise Medical founder Brad Slaker presented the idea and vision behind DesignWise Medical to a captivated audience.
The judges were thrilled with all the presentations and the choice for the 2011 Cup winner came down to the wire. DesignWise Medical was edged out by competitor HourCar for the title, but very honorably took its place as runner-up. With our first product hitting the market in 2012, company founder and CEO Brad Slaker is confident that the company is on the right track. “Finishing runner-up in this contest helps to validate DesignWise Medical’s unique business approach and the positive impact we are making on getting appropriately designed medical products to the children that so need them,” Slaker noted.
Beating out thirty-eight competitors and having the opportunity to share our story with such a diverse audience, DesignWise Medical continues to gain momentum into the future. The company would also like to congratulate the three competing finalists for a hard-fought competition and a job well done. Furthermore, without the opportunity from the Social Venture Partners, the EPCON conference, and the Minnesota Cup, none of this would have been possible.
DesignWise Medical has been selected as a finalist of the Mosaic Social Entrepreneurs Cup competition. We were chosen as one of four finalists from 40 total entries.
The Mosaic Social Entrepreneurs Cup is hosted by SVP MN as a division of the Minnesota Cup. The purpose of the Mosaic Social Entrepreneurs Cup is to seek out, celebrate and promote Minnesota’s most innovative and effective social entrepreneurs and the organizations they lead.
The four finalists make presentations to the judges and audience at the annual Engaged Philanthropy Conference (EPCON 2011). The winner will be announced that same day, June 16th and will then proceed to compete against the other division winners of the MN Cup competition.
All open houses will be from 4:30pm – 6:00pm and will be held at the DesignWise Medical headquarters in NE Minneapolis.
If you cannot make it to the first one, we’d love to see you at one of our other open house dates. See the attached calendar
Location:
1400 NE Van Buren St.
Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Directions:
Google Map of DesignWise Medical
DesignWise Medical was has been featured in the November 2010 issue of the BioBulletin, the newsletter of BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota. The title of the article is, ‘DesignWise Medical: A new approach to helping kids’.
Article Link: http://www.biobusinessalliance.org/news.asp
Join DesignWise Medical in our pursuit to identify, create, and deliver solutions for children’s unmet medical needs.
Click the link and share a quick story about how you’ve been impacted by DesignWise Medical and help us win $5,000 for our cause!
DesignWise Medical sponsored 4 senior design project teams that culminated over the last 2 weeks with design shows and final reports.
DesignWise Medical typically will sponsor a student desing project for new product development efforts and then once the student project is completed, transfer the continuing development to our network of volunteer professionals and retirees. The student teams provide a tremendous service at the front end of product development by getting the project moving forward and gaining momentum. I liken their efforts to first gear of a transmission…getting the car from zero speed to forward momentum that we will then be able to build off of.
I would like to personally thank each member of the four teams for all the work they have done in advancing the development of needed pediatric medical devices. Brad Slaker
University of Minnesota - Mechanical Engineering – OPOD Performance Enhancement
University of Minnesota – Mechanical Engineering – Oxygen Pad Concept Development
University of Minnesota – BioMedical Engineering – Closed-Loop Neonatal Oxygen Mgmt System
University of St. Thomas – Engineering [ME & EE] – Improved Vein Transilluminator Concept Development
We were thrilled to be selected as one of 16 worthy nonprofits this year and were matched with the Full Court Press team from the Minneapolis-St. Paul WordPress users group. The result is the website you are now reading.
This new site features enhanced content pages, collaborative applications and the ability to directly accept your ideas. We hope you take advantage of these new features and let us know how we could make the site even better. Just send us your comments!
Photo by Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune
Janet Moore from the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote a nice overview of DesignWise Medical featuring our Overnight Pediatric Oxygen Delivery (OPOD) system. Inspired by mother and physiology instructor Ann Gettys, this project was further developed by a design class at the University of St. Thomas and prototyped at the the University of Wisconsin-Stout. A plan to gain FDA approval was then written by a master’s student at St. Cloud State University.
This is an example of the type of partnerships we will foster to bring these important new products to the market. You can find out more about this project and share your thoughts. Or you can share your own idea for a future project.
DesignWise Medical has applied its unique development approach to pediatric medical device development to a pediatric device need proposed by IPI [Institute for Pediatric Innovation]. The device is an improved vein transilluminator used to locate peripheral veins for the insertion of IV’s and PICC lines. No device currently exists in the market that has all the features needed of a robust device for use with children. DesignWise Medical is working on the concept development phase of this project in conjunction with student teams at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Wisconsin-Stout. See the full story in the following link, CAMBRIDGE, MA–(Marketwire – 01/13/10)
“Students across the state are breathing a little easier as summer break begins, but they may not be the only ones, thanks to the work of students at UW-Stout.” WSAW Daybreak
“Students at the University of Wisconsin-Stout are helping design a life-saving device for infants and young children with lung disorders. Eight junior-level students majoring in art with a concentration in industrial design are participating in a collaborative project with the nonprofit organization DesignWise Medical, in Minneapolis, and the School of Engineering at the University of St. Thomas, also in Minneapolis.” The Dunn County News, Tuesday, May 19, 2009 11:41 AM CDT
Laura Short recently discussed a collaborative project among UW-Stout industrial design students, St. Thomas engineering students, and DesignWise Medical with Noah Norton, assistant professor of industrial design.
Laura Short: Can you tell me more about your collaborative project with DesignWise Medical and St. Thomas engineering students?
Noah Norton: The idea behind this project was to create designs for an alternative way to deliver oxygen to children ages 0-6 while they slept. The 
current way is either taping hoses to their faces or strapping masks to them. Both of these are undesirable solutions that create bad experiences for the children and parents. Ann Gettys, founder of the chILD Foundation (children’s interstitial Lung Disease) came up with the idea of a hood that would deliver oxygen to the child in a less obtrusive way. She created a prototype out of a kid’s tent and some hoses; the OPOD idea was born. She has been working with Brad Slaker, founder of the non-profit company DesignWise Medical. They
have been engineering solutions with St Thomas since September. We were mainly concerned with the experience-end of things: interaction, cleaning, piece of mind. The students came up with a wide array of solutions that really pushed the boundaries of what was expected. We figured out a way to eliminate the wasteful use of many feet of disposable tubing, among other things.
LS: How many industrial design students were involved?
NN: Eight. Linnea Londborg, Hans Neilsen, Steve Lambert, Grayson Smith, Jennifer Seward, Jenny Byrd, Ben Heard, and Dave Keyes
LS: What were the ID students’ role(s)?
NN: Make the product easy to use for parents: easy to assemble, disassemble, clean, access bed sheets, tell that it is working correctly; make it fool proof. For the children: make it “non-medical,” take the fear away, give them piece of mind and relief. We were also looking at ways to make it more efficient.
LS: What was the result of the project?
NN: The prototypes are now being considered for further refinement and eventual production. One will be chosen and worked on more, engineered, etc.
LS: Will a prototype be available at the senior show?
NN: I am not sure yet. This is a junior project and I do not want to step on toes…
LS: How did Stout become involved?
NN: Brad came to a design senior show in the fall and decided to contact us.
LS: What is the possibility the product will go to market?
NN: Positive thus far. There is still refinement, but I believe that is the plan.