UVM’s Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) aspires to be an internationally recognized destination for the development of data supported biomedical device design with a focus on rural medicine as well as the training of future biotechnology inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.
CBI brings together students, faculty, and industry through shared programming and an interactive research, development, and educational space that:
- Provides a home for biomedical engineering companies, researchers, and students to develop new biomedical technologies, and with particular focus on data-enabled devices for improving health and wellness in rural communities.
- Includes physical spaces for team brainstorming/ collaboration, customer focus groups, a maker space, a materials characterization laboratory, offices for visiting industry members, and presentation rooms for showcasing new designs and new venture ideas.
- Creates a virtual connection to participating clinicians within the UVM Medical Center, the Larner College of Medicine, and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences as well as off-site industry collaborators and clients for observation of the use of new devices and technologies.
- Houses the new vertically-integrated biomedical engineering design sequence, which is a cornerstone of the bachelor of science degree in Biomedical Engineering.
The Bio-design Process
CBI encompasses all aspects of the bio-design process — from customer discovery, problem identification and ideation to prototyping and new product/business development. CBI is housed in the new Discovery Hall. The physical space will foster collaborations bringing together students, clinicians, and industry partners across technology, healthcare and business disciplines, including those who connect virtually, to identify unmet needs and develop new ideas through face-to-face interactions.
Prototyping
Prototyping will occur in a bio-focused maker space complementing our existing fab lab and machine shop. The mock exam room outfitted with standard clinical equipment will span the entire bio-design process by providing clinicians a space to demonstrate an unmet need, students a place to envision prototypes, and collaborative groups a location to test real-life scenarios that simulate accessibility, mobility, and communication challenges for specific populations. Office spaces will provide visiting industry experts an on-site location to work and meet with students and clinicians as they turn their ideas into real products and business ventures.
Investing in relationships → Innovation
CBI integrates bio-design enabled product/business development and student education in partnership with external collaborators. Workshops, Big Problem Hackathons, and Design Charrettes with companies occur every semester, with a focus on choosing projects to move forward either in formal curriculum or as part of interdisciplinary activities in the Center.
Corporate partners will have the opportunity to invest in student design projects, sponsored research, and product development in a creative ecosystem with our faculty.
CBI is supported by a robust academic, research, and innovation ecosystem spanning four colleges: