By: Deborah Johnson Wood
In the last five years, the West Michigan Science and Technology Initiative (WMSTI) has helped life sciences start-ups procure more than $20 million in investment, some $3 million in grants, and helped one business license their first product with a $13-billion-dollar corporation.
The WMSTI also helped the partners of the Biotech Commercialization Project (BCP)—Spectrum Health, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Grand Valley State University, The Van Andel Institute, and others—form a "one stop shopping" service to move ideas and inventions originated in clinical and research settings from concept to market.
"It's a way for doctors, surgeons, nurses, and researchers to get their ideas to market," said Kim Bode, WMSTI marketing director. "They can hand it off to their Innovations Committee for them to do the legwork."
Early on, the BCP partners had to create one Intellectual Property process that would work for all. Then Innovation Committees were created in each partner's organization to:
- Evaluate the ideas submitted
- Select the most promising ideas
- Decide market viability
- Develop, patent, and launch the product
"The process gets the product to market sooner, developed under the umbrella of the organization," Bode said.
In the year since its inception, the BCP has facilitated the development and patenting process for two products invented by two Saint Mary's Health Care doctors. One is a door-less doorway that uses a maze-like corridor and a series of sensors to prevent radiation from escaping a room during cancer treatment. The other is a surgical device that makes certain surgeries easier.
Source: Kim Bode, West Michigan Science and Technology Initiative
Deborah Johnson Wood is the Development News Editor for Rapid Growth. She can be reached at [email protected].
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