As champions of medtech innovation and the continued growth of the entrepreneurial community, Insight Innovation Center and Northwestern University have developed a partnership over the years as an effort to help bring impactful healthcare technologies into fruition. As part of our relationship, we take advantage of every opportunity to open our doors to Northwestern students, like the ones from NUvention Medical who joined us last night to discuss best practices in wearable medical device development.

Professor Pete McNerney’s NUvention Medical course is designed to lead students through the innovation and entrepreneurial life cycle of bringing a new medical technology to patients. To better provide students with real-world context, NUvention courses frequently invite outside speakers within the entrepreneurial and innovation space to present and lead workshops. During this particular lesson, Partner Steve McPhilliamy provided a high-level overview of our expertise in front-end innovation and experience consulting clients and startups to identifying user needs. He also touched on our newest partnership with Nemera, whose late-stage lab and manufacturing capabilities helps round out our offerings in new product development. The group also heard from Design Researcher Erica Isaacs, Design Manager Alisa Rantanen and Senior Design Manager Tony Belton about up-front research methodologies to uncover new opportunities and turning those opportunities into viable business cases. Steve also referred to the Insight Accelerator Lab member companies and the development paths they have taken to secure consistent wins and funding tied to a logical progression of technology improvements. Their concepts of value-based user needs lead to product requirements and ultimately, became solutions that have a positive impact on people’s lives. 

Insight Innovation Center is an associate level education contributor for both NUvention Medical and The Masters of Science in Law program, a cross-educational curriculum beneficial to startups and entrepreneurs seeking guidance as they carve their own path in technology, business and law. Insight’s principal leaders are active experts within the MSL program, hosting classes at their facility to present best practices and techniques for medical device development—from early opportunity discovery to industrialization and commercialization. Through the program’s six-month duration, Insight’s key leaders are able to provide ongoing guidance and entrepreneurial mentorship to the teams and facilitate their transition from a collective idea into a viable medtech startup.