The von Liebig Center Concludes 3-Session Medical Device Technology Commercialization Workshop

The von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center recently concluded a highly successful, three-session workshop on the commercialization of medical devices on Oct. 17, 2015. In collaboration with the Institute of Engineering in Medicine and the School of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology, the von Liebig Center was able to offer a hands-on learning experience for faculty, graduate students and post-docs at UC San Diego. The program had over twenty teams apply and was able to provide twelve teams with one-to-one mentorship and guidance on how good ideas become products, how to assess stakeholder needs and market opportunities, and how to successfully fund their companies.

The workshop was divided into three sessions, each with a specific focus and separated by two weeks to allow time for development. The first session, held on Sept. 12, had a focus on regulations. Participants were asked to present their ideas to a panel of invited industry experts, who would review them and provide feedback.

Teams were asked to then conduct customer interviews and independently study the Center’s video lectures on customer discovery and the Business Model Canvas. Upon reflecting on the workshop, students found the independent study both helpful and efficient.

“[The content and homework were] great! If done, they were very helpful,” wrote an anonymous student. “[Steve] Blank’s videos were outstanding.”

On Sept. 26, the teams met for the second session focused on product design, and for the last session on Oct. 17, teams gave their final presentations and spoke of their next steps.

“Several teams will be supported and recommended to participate in I-Corps Phase II,” Lead facilitator Michael Krupp, PhD. said. “Eventually, they can compete at the national level of I-Corps for an opportunity to receive over $50,000 of funding.”

The success of this medical device technology commercialization workshop paves the way for the introduction of more three-day workshops at the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center.

“This was our first time offering this type of workshop at von Liebig,” Dr. Krupp said. “This workshop was specific for medical devices, but we would definitely like to offer more workshops with a similar model for other topics as well.”

Dr. Krupp worked with Hal W. DeLong and Jay S. Kunin, PhD to facilitate the three-session medical device technology commercialization workshop. Krupp has over 20 years of experience in the Pharma industry, holding both business and product development roles. He is the founder of Neurgain Technologies, the CEO of Xfibra LLC and an advisor at the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center.

DeLong is also a von Liebig advisor and the Executive Director of Proof of Concept Institute, Inc.. He has over 25 years of senior industry management experience in medical technology commercialization. Dr. Kunin is an executive and consultant for pharma, medical device, health IT and CRO companies, is the VP BioMed Track for Tech Coast Angels and an entrepreneurship mentor and instructor for the von Liebig I-Corps program. Dr. Kunin also served as the Executive Director of the UCSD Moxie Center for Student Entrepreneurship.