Industry involvement

Engineering Innovation in Health (EIH) develops technical solutions to pressing challenges in health. We welcome projects from your company that will benefit from a collaborative working team of industry professionals, UW students, and faculty.

Benefits

By participating in EIH, you have the opportunity to:

Develop innovative technical solutions that bring value to your company.
Vet a solution to a challenging problem, perhaps one that you don’t have the resources to pursue in-house.
Generate a deeper understanding of a health challenge, market, current solutions, intellectual property, and regulatory strategy that engages a comprehensive set of stakeholders.
Work closely with a diverse group of UW students and faculty from engineering, health sciences, and business.
Strengthen your relationship with the UW for recruiting student talent and for engaging in future projects.
Leverage world class infrastructure and facilities at UW.
Receive a nonexclusive commercial license to any project intellectual property developed by the student team or UW employees.

Involvement

The Engineering Innovation in Health program runs for 9 months. Projects typically start in the fall (October) and run for three quarters (ending in June).

Participating companies pay a sponsorship fee and designate an employee lead to mentor the team. The mentor meets with the team weekly to help them understand the problem in depth and guide the solution pathway.

Intellectual property is governed by existing federal and state laws and is subject to best practices of the University of Washington technology transfer office, CoMotion. A company wholly owns its existing intellectual property. A nonexclusive, commercial license will be granted to any project intellectual property developed by the student team or UW employees. Additional, pre-negotiated options for exclusive licenses have been standardized as part of the Washington Innovation Advantage Program.

The EIH process starts with industry sponsors or clinicians submitting a project idea that focuses on an unmet health challenge and ultimately ends with a working prototype solution, which can take the form of a device, process, or application. Project submissions are due on a rolling basis between May and August each year. We welcome you to reach out to us and discuss your ideas. Please contact Soyoung Kang to learn more.

Submit a health challenge

Sample projects

For a full list of previous projects, visit the Projects section.

Cardiac Arrest Monitor »

Cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death among people over 40. The treatment for cardiac arrest is CPR or defibrillation. The trick is to catch cardiac arrest quickly in order to treat the patient immediately, because the mortality rate for cardiac arrest victims increases by 10% for every minute that action is not taken. To monitor for cardiac arrest, EKG machines or SPO2 monitors are used, but these devices exhibit inaccuracies. This new cardiac arrest monitoring device uses ultrasound Doppler technology to monitor the carotid artery, which allows for quick and accurate recognition of cardiac arrest.

Continuous Monitoring of Fetal Well-being »

Resource-limited countries have a stillbirth rate that is approximately 10 times greater than that of developed countries. One in four of these stillbirths, along with newborn deaths in resource-limited countries, can be attributed to oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery. The continuous monitoring of fetal heart rate and maternal uterine contractions is essential for diagnosing such fetal distress early on. To satisfy the unique needs of hospitals in resource-limited settings, this low-cost, consumables-free solution of continuous monitoring of fetal well-being utilizes an electrocardiogram to detect fetal and maternal heart rates, as well as an electromyogram to measure the uterine muscle contractions.

EZXS »

Already vulnerable patients with implanted ports receiving long-term treatment are at risk for bloodstream infections due to the introduction of bacteria during needle access procedures, as current infusion sets are not inherently antimicrobial, requiring extra handling of needles and dressings. If they acquire an infection, they are at a 12-15% increased mortality rate, and hospitals are shouldered with unreimbursed $55,000 for treatment for each case, EZXS (pronounced “easy access”) will streamline aseptic needle insertion to reduce the risk of bloodstream infection, inadvertent needle sticks, and subsequent treatment costs. EZXS combines needles and dressings to create an all-in-one device that will ensure stable, accurate needle insertion. As a universal applicator for already widely used needles and antimicrobial dressings, EZXS will simplify implanted port access procedures for nurses, while reducing the risk of infection for patients.