The MDDC Medical Device Development Centre of British Columbia (‘the MDDC’) is pleased to announce the renewed endowment of MDDC Student Awards to encourage and recognize student innovators in technologies relating to medicine and health care, including medical devices, systems, software, apps, and assistive technologies.

The MDDC is also announcing a special award for the “Need-Oriented Innovation in Medical Technology” for this year’s competition. The categories for the special “need-orientated” award are:

• Cuffless blood pressure monitor
• Alert system for personal distress
• Robotic system for reducing staff injuries
• Improving efficiencies of health care workers to reduce costs.

Additional details for the “Need-Orientated Innovation” are provided here.

A Selection Committee consisting of MDDC Board Members evaluates the submissions from individual students and student teams based on five criteria:

1. Need being addressed in the project
2. Level of student achievement in creating the innovation
3. Uniqueness and originality
4. Stage of development of the project
5. Projected biomedical economic and social impacts