6:00 PM |
Tutorial 2: Sensor Commercialization: Critical Success Factors for Sensors Commercialization
Presenters:
Steven Walsh, PhD, Distinguished and Regents Professor, Anderson School, University of New Mexico
The objective of the Micro, Nano and Emerging Technology Commercialization Education Foundation (MANCEF) is to provide product developers with pragmatic, detailed and actionable information needed to be addressed in the design, development, manufacturing and test process to bring a product to the market with the focus on sensors and where possible, on the medical application of these devices/systems. This tutorial will present the latest approaches to overcoming the barriers to commercialization through effective design, engineering and manufacturing scalability. In addition to the presentations, this tutorial will feature a panel discussion to address key case study successes and failures and what innovative startup companies are doing to achieve success in sensors development.
The Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program’s mission is to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy. It is a federal government equity-free investment program where small businesses receive financial support, $100K to $250K, to determine the innovative technology proposed solution commercial viability, Phase I, followed by another round of investment for the development of a commercial prototype. This second round of investment, Phase II, ranges from ~$600K to $1M for two years; amounts vary according to the agency. To qualify for these funds the small businesses must have less than 500 employees, must be >51% US-owned by individuals and individually operated OR at least 51% owned and controlled by another for-profit business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more individuals; all work must be performed in the US. The USA government stimulates private investments by absorbing the technical risks of new innovative technologies resulting from academic research and individual/organizations ingenuity. The SBIR (SBIR/STTR) provides an excellent vehicle to the sensors innovative community to develop new and commercially viable applications by reducing private investments risks. As new and challenging applications emerge for sensors it is important that human and financial capital risks be reduced to address market needs while creating jobs and wealth; SBIR provides the right vehicle to make this happen.
Presenter Biographies
Dr. Steven Walsh is a Distinguished Professor and the Creative enterprise professor at UNM’s Anderson School of Management. He has served as the director of the Technology Entrepreneurship Program and is the concentration director for MOT program and ETM program at UNM. Dr. Walsh was a manager at a division of a fortune 500 firm, a project and program manager and General Manager of a small and Medium enterprise. He is also a serial entrepreneur and has helped to attract tens of millions of dollars to firms where he was either a founder, president and or vice president. He has been involved mainly in the emerging technology commercialization space professionally. More specifically he initially focused on semiconductor materials, Pharmaceuticals, Ceramics, and Pheromones. During the last twenty years he has focused his efforts on technology project management and commercialization of emerging technologies like Micro, Nano, biotechnologies, Additive Manufacturing and IoT. He is the president of Janus Ventures Inc. a consulting firm.
Dr. Juan E. Figueroa is Entrepreneurship Advisor and Associated Researcher at the Puerto Rico Science, Technology, and Research Trust (Trust) responsible for working with researchers and innovators to transform the results of their research and ideas into product concepts with high potential for commercial success. He also works in the search for research and commercialization funds from private and government sources for the Trust community. Dr. Figueroa retired from the National Science Foundation in January 2014 where he served since 2002 as a Program Director in the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) after spending over twenty years in R&D management positions in the electronics and communications industries. At NSF he managed over 600 awards ranging from $100K to over $1M. Dr. Figueroa supports the Organization of American States as an instructor to their Commercialization HUB series. He is also Senior Technology Adviser to the DC ArchAngels, a national investment group based in Washington, DC and to SensorComm Technologies.
6:00 PM |
Tutorial 4: Digital Health and Wellness: Lessons Learned and New Frontiers
Presenters:
Debbie Chen, PhD, Founder & CEO, Hydrostasis, Inc.
This tutorial will provide valuable lessons and future outlooks from two experienced speakers in digital health. Debbie Chen, PhD, will share latest lessons learned from her company’s hydration monitoring system and explore what is really needed in order to provide actionable, preventative hydration information for patients and healthcare providers alike. Maurizio Macagno will discuss how embedded sensors, microelectronics & mobile smart watch applications with real-time alerting capabilities are extending the reach of the clinician beyond the walls of the hospital and providing the aging population the ability to live independently longer and safer.
Providers using remote patient monitoring-enabled home healthcare and other telehealth delivery methods are reducing hospital readmissions penalties and seniors are driving positive ROI from RPM technology and home-based care, mainly due to high incidence of multiple chronic diseases. Through embedded sensors, microelectronics & mobile smart watch applications with real-time alerting capabilities, the reach of the clinician can extend beyond the walls of the hospital and provide the aging population the ability to live independently longer and safer.
Presenter Biographies
Debbie Chen has a B.S. in Bioengineering from UCSD and a Ph.D. from Tufts University. For her thesis, she developed an early diagnostic tool based in near-infrared spectroscopy to diagnose early peripheral neuropathy. She did a Postdoc at UCSD Medical School in Pathology specializing in diabetic neuropathy and a second Postdoc at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, developing a 3D in-vitro plankton microscope. She was an Imaging Scientist at Sanford Burnham Prebys (SBP), managing the High-Content Screening Microscopy Core for Drug Discovery.
In July 2018, she decided to make the plunge into entrepreneurship, combining her optical device expertise and her passions as an amateur Muay Thai fighter. She realized that there is a need for a personalized, continuous hydration monitor for athletes as well as in hospitals and believes that hydration monitoring should be the standard of care in sports and healthcare.
Hydrostasis is a B2B initially focusing on collegiate teams to provide a continuous hydration sensor wearable and team analytics platform. Patented sensor design and algorithms combine measures of blood flow, skin tone, fat content, as well as hydration into a personalized hydration index. Machine learning algorithms provide an optimal hydration range for each individual and notifies coaches and athletes before they exit their optimal range, thereby avoiding symptoms of dehydration and overhydration. After customer validation and traction in the sports sector, Hydrostasis aims to enter into the Healthcare system in 2021.
Maurizio (Mac) is a former software professional with over 20 years of development and technical program management experience in various technologies and industries. He joined Microsoft Italy in 1999, where he worked for 6 years as a consultant and solution architect for top Italian Microsoft customers in the banking, retail, military, telco and manufacturing industries. He moved to USA in 2005 to later join Microsoft Xbox / Entertainment division, where he served as a Senior Program Manager for Xbox LIVE services until 2013. He got the entrepreneurial bug and founded Green Tomatoes, a small start-up focused on IT consulting and mobile application development. He then went on co-founding Sensoria Inc. and Sensoria Health Inc., two of the most innovative companies in the Wearable Tech, where he serves as CTO.
6:00 PM |
Tutorial 5: Overcoming the Pitfalls to Commercialization – Achieving Success through Effective Strategic Planning & Implementation
Presenters:
Roger H Grace, President, Roger Grace Assoc
Don’t miss this opportunity to address many issues on the topic of commercialization including barriers to the commercialization of sensor technology as well as the strategies to overcome these barriers. In addition, this tutorial will feature a presentations and a panel discussion to address key case study successes and failures and what innovative startup companies are doing to achieve success in sensors development.
It is often mistaken that the commercialization process begins with a design, a lab prototype and experimental testing. So often entrepreneurs and companies come with design, prototype and validation in hand without a customer or an understanding of their needs, consideration for manufacturing and quality nor any evaluation of a supply base. This presentation challenges this thinking and presents an alternative process that starts with an idea accompanied by the end customer’s specifications, a thorough review of the method for manufacturing, definition of a quality plan and an understanding of your validation requirements at the component and device level. There should also be a consideration of your potential supply base and their capabilities. Furthermore, a plan should be developed for the path through the FDA approval process. Once this is complete, an iterative design is developed with a constant reassessment of performance, manufacturing, quality, validation and FDA approval. During the design phase, a core building block of technology should be developed such that it can be easily replicated in derivative products keeping as much of the design as possible the same (usually only the customer interfaces changing). This enables high volume production of identical components and features lowering cost. The resulting prototype is then closely representative of a production device that can then be fine-tuned through 2-3 design validations off tools capable of low volume production. Also in the design phase, testing is completed to understand the ranges in performance and failure as it relates to expected capability in materials, dimensions, manufacturing and environmental exposure. Scaling is then accomplished by adding capacity through tool replication and automation that is validated in the pilot phase with limited fine tuning. This process will be demonstrated through two case studies.
Presenter Biographies
Roger H. Grace is president of Roger Grace Associates (Naples, FL) which he founded in 1982 as a marketing consultancy serving the sensor, MEMS, IC and capital equipment markets. He holds B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. (as a Raytheon Company Fellow) degrees from Northeastern University where he was awarded the “Engineering Alumni of the Year” Award in 2004. He was a visiting lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley College of Engineering from 1990 to 2004. He is the Vice President of the Americas for the Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Education Foundation (MANCEF) which he co-founded in 1996. rgrace@rgrace.com/www.rgrace.com
David DiPaola is Managing Director of DiPaola Consulting, LLC. As an engineer / entrepreneur, David specializes in providing inspiration, design and commercialization of products for his customers. The inspiration side of his business provides leadership consulting to startups and existing corporations. This includes due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, product growth strategies, market analysis, organizational restructuring and more. The design and commercialization sides help customers bring their electromechanical products from concept to high volume production and all the steps in between. Currently David holds six patents and serves customers in medical, automotive, industrial, defense, consumer electronics and architecture. Previously, David held technical staff and leadership positions at Texas Instruments and Sensata Technologies and was VP of Global R&D for TT Electronics, PLC.