Researchers from the UK’s University of Birmingham and Imperial College London have launched a new 4D medical device manufacturing project.
The 4D Health Tech initiative seeks to fill a crucial gap in traditional medical device manufacturing design processes by incorporating factors such as growth, movement, and tissue regeneration or degeneration, which are often overlooked.
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The project will promote the use of materials that degrade predictably and promote faster healing, and combine this ethos with automated design, advanced manufacturing processes, and patient specific pre-clinical testing – which is expected to result in ‘better’ medical devices that cater to more diverse patient populations.
Backed by £1.2m in funding from the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the three-year project will create Network Plus, an initiative intended to connect academics, businesses, clinicians, patients, and policymakers, serving as a conduit towards the creation of bigger, longer-term research projects in the field.
The project funding is part of a broader £10m package allocated by EPSRC across the UK’s manufacturing sector to respond to Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges, a paper the UKRI published in 2022. Concerning medical device and equipment manufacturing, the paper highlights the importance of a re-manufacturing and re-use approach to ensure sustainability in manufacturing for the sector to support a move towards the principles of a circular economy.
According to Dr Sophie Cox, associate professor in healthcare technologies at Birmingham University’s School of Chemical Engineering, medical devices designed to replace or repair our bodies typically neglect the dimension of time, a reality that compromises their function and lifespan.
“Our vision is to transform the way we engineer medical devices,” said Dr Cox.
“Fostering connections across the supply chain will create a new culture of 4D Health Tech embedding innovative thinking, patient perspective and diversity – ensuring this new age of medical devices offers improved healthcare outcomes for everyone.”
In related manufacturing developments in the medical device sector, companies are ramping up their investment in 3D printing for the creation of custom prosthetics, implants and surgical tools that meet the individual needs of patients. According to GlobalData analysis, the medical 3D printing market is growing at a CAGR of 21% and forecast to reach a valuation of $4bn in 2026, up from $2bn in 2022.
