By Stacy Kim
On Tuesday, November 14, the UCSF Pediatric Device Consortium (PDC) held its inaugural Pediatric Device Accelerator Pitch Competition at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus. The competition awarded a total of $252,500, funded by FDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development and the UCSF Department of Surgery, to teams developing novel medical devices for children.
Eight finalists, selected from a pool of 55 applicants from across the world, had just under 10 minutes to pitch their product ideas to a judges’ panel of five industry professionals: Mike Billig (CEO of Experien Group), Dan Burnett (President and CEO of TheraNova), Denise Forkey (Consultant at Denise Forkey Medical Device Development Solutions), Chris Jones (Consultant at Orb Product Development), and Russ Lindemann (Co-Founder of JustRight Surgical). The presentations, which included the pediatric clinical need, proposed technology, potential market, commercialization approach, and current development status, were followed by Q&A from the judges.
After the pitches, the judges presented prizes in increments of $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000. Top honors were awarded to InkSpace Imaging, Inc. and Auctus Surgical, Inc.
