Medical Device Partnering Program

ABOUT

The Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP) is an ideas incubator. We foster collaborations between researchers, industry, end-users and government and develop medical technologies with global market potential. Read more

What we do

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Ideation

Anyone from health professionals and researchers to end-users and entrepreneurs can submit an innovative idea to the Medical Device Partnering Program. Our clients come to us with a problem, an idea for a solution or in some cases, a working prototype.

Screening

The MDPP Innovations team conducts confidential research on all submissions. This includes a review of the concept and research to understand the product’s potential. We’re able to quickly understand the need and market opportunity to then shortlist projects to go through to a workshop.

Workshopping

Our workshops are one of the most valuable aspects of the Program. Here we explore the idea and underlying problem to ensure the new product provides benefits over existing solutions. Participants may include research specialists, academics, clinicians, manufacturers, end-users and commercial experts. The workshop provides a clear path forward and can result in new product ideas or approaches being conceived.

Decision Making

Following the workshop, an independent Assessment Panel involving researchers, industry experts, clinicians and government representatives review the plan. We want to ensure every project we invest our time in has the potential to be developed into a marketable product.

Develop Solution

Each approved project receives up to 250 hours of professional technical expertise. This can include proof of concept research, prototyping, product validation or a small-scale end-user trial. We also provide a detailed market opportunity report and foster connections to potential manufacturers and commercial partners to further support our clients in taking their ideas to market.

Handover

We handover all results, data, prototypes and intellectual property to the client, together with suggestions for future R&D and funding opportunities. We believe through the Medical Device Partnering Program, clients have all the ingredients required to take their product to the next step!

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Featured Projects

Pre-eclampsia Diagnostic Device

Approximately 76,000 pregnant women and 500,000 babies die from pre-eclampsia across the world every year. Women in developing countries are seven times more likely to suffer from the condition due to delayed diagnosis and a lack of access to hospitals. Causes of pre-eclampsia are not entirely understood, but if left untreated it can lead to blood clots, organ failure, and death. Rapid, affordable, and accurate diagnostic tools are therefore essential in aiding treatment. Now, with the help of the Medical Device Partnering Program, a portable diagnostic device being developed by Professor Benjamin Thierry, Dr Duy Tran and a team from the University...

The AI advantage

Revolutionising the landscape of healthcare delivery, innovator Hayley Saddington has joined forces with Flinders University's Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP) to build a cost-effective, clinically guided digital software application tailored for supporting in-home rehabilitation. The co-founder of Peak Medical, Hayley is a visionary in her field who has exploited artificial intelligence to create an innovative technology which empowers in-home patients to progress their rehabilitation with the confidence of precise clinical guidance. Replicating the physiotherapy experience, the technology employs an evidence-based clinical approach, directing individuals to customised exercises for continuous improvement between appointments. Hayley says the idea for the transformative technology came to her as...

Prohab, Connected Healthcare Device

What started as a family injury has turned into a rehabilitation game-changer receiving global attention. The Prohab Connected Healthcare Device, the brainchild of physiotherapist Lyndon Huf, is an innovative rehabilitation device that accurately measures the force-generating capability of an individual’s muscle, in order to guide and personalise prescription of exercise and rehabilitation programs .

Rehabilitation Device, MAXM Skate

When Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Matthew Liptak started noticing inconsistent outcomes in the rehabilitation of his patients after total knee replacement, he decided to take things into his own hands. He identified a gap in the market for a simple and effective device to encourage, motivate and monitor the rehabilitation of his patients post-surgery. Dr Liptak first approached the MDPP in 2013 for assistance with the development of Maxm Skate, a skate-like device which straps to a patient’s foot. Whilst he had an initial prototype of the skate, he needed R&D assistance to develop a sensor which would record the user’s range of...

Ferronova, Cancer detecting magnetic pro…

Detecting cancer is set to become safer and more accurate with the development of a new cancer-detecting probe. The probe, an invention of University of South Australia researchers Professor Benjamin Thierry and Dr Aidan Cousins, provides a non-radioactive alternative to map how cancer has disseminated through the body. Following initial bench-top testing of the device, the team first partnered with the MDPP in 2013, seeking out electronic engineering expertise and advice from end users and commercial experts.

Light Therapy Glasses, Re-Timer

Since 1987, world-renowned sleep psychologists, Professor Leon Lack and Dr Helen Wright from Flinders University, have studied the effects of light on the human body clock. Their work focused on circadian rhythms, the fluctuations in biological process occurring on a 24-hour basis in the body. Research determined that exposure to bright light can normalize the timing of the rhythms and assist with the treatment of insomnia, winter depression, jet-lag and shift work disorder. The result of this extensive body of work was Re-Timer, glasses proven to re-time one’s body clock. The glasses shine glowing green-blue light into the eye of the wearer...

Bone Growth Scaffold, Eepta Pty Ltd

When Professor Matthew McDonald and Dr Peter Pedoulias had a revelation in the operating theatre about how spinal fusion surgery could be improved they turned to the Medical Device Partnering Program to make it a reality. Spinal fusion is a surgical procedure that corrects issues of the small bones of the spine by permanently connecting two or more vertebrae. This complex surgery is often the last resort to treat back problems and can cost around $46,700 per patient.

U-Stand Frame, Innovo Healthcare

Helping patients and aged care residents to stand is all in a day’s work for many healthcare workers - but it comes at a cost, with nursing assistants suffering one of the highest rates of work-related musculoskeletal injuries. A solution is now available thanks to a new medical device supported by the Medical Device Partnering Program, the ‘U-Stand Frame’. The lightweight and portable frame, an invention of Innovo Healthcare, is giving independence back to the patient, allowing them to control the timing, speed and mechanics of their sit-to- stand movement.

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