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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 EIHealth@uw.edu to learn more.

 

Submit a health challenge

 

Sample projects

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

MistEase »

Elderly patients with glaucoma may have problems dispensing eye drop medications due to physical limitations. MistEase is an eye drop assistant device that makes it easier to apply eye drops. The slender, ergonomic design of MistEase fits comfortably against the average person’s facial contours so the medication can be properly aligned to the eye, and the trigger design allows patients to effortlessly actuate the spray with reduced input force.

Applying eye drops

EnsuriNG »

The nasogastric tube (NG tube) is often placed by nurses and at-home caretakers. However, the procedure of insertion lacks clear guidance. Misplaced tubes cause many complications that may develop into serious problems such as pneumothorax, nose erosion, or laryngeal edema with asphyxia. Tube misplacement is especially an issue in neonates, with as high as 43% of NG tube misplacement occurring in this population. The EnsuriNG team is developing an inexpensive, easy-to-use solution that guides tube placement and helps confirm tip placement. Using optics and acoustics, the EnsuriNG device enables nurses and caretakers to be better informed of the NG tube tip position during the post-placement.

EnsuriNG

CathAlign: Automatic Pressure Transducer Leveling »

Treatment decisions in Critical Care are made based on readings from external transducers that are manually leveled (by eye or by leveler) to the phlebostatic axis. A clinician may level the external transducer 2-3x per hour based on patient activity or questionable readings. CathAlign combines a novel sensing solution with ehanced transducer attachement safety features to improve nursing workflow and reduce avoidable hospital errors.