Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - POSITION-II (A pilot line for the next generation of smart catheters and implants)

Teaser

Public summaryIt is the ambition of the POSITION-II project to realize a breakthrough in this impasse situation by the introduction of open technology platforms for miniaturization, in-tip AD conversion, wireless communication, MEMS transducer technology and encapsulation...

Summary

Public summary
It is the ambition of the POSITION-II project to realize a breakthrough in this impasse situation by the introduction of open technology platforms for miniaturization, in-tip AD conversion, wireless communication, MEMS transducer technology and encapsulation. These platforms are open to multiple users and for multiple applications. The availability of these open platforms will allow manufacturers to improve the performance of smart catheters at a lower cost. Additionally, it will enable the development of completely new smart minimally invasive instruments. The platform approach will generate the production volume needed for a sustainable innovation that is guided by roadmaps.
The production activities will be centered around the (pilot) manufacturing facility realized in the ECSEL “InForMed” project in Eindhoven in the center of Europe. In the “InForMed” project, this pilot line is linked to key European partners that provide advanced materials, integration, and assembly services. It is the explicit ambition of the project to break the US monopoly in the development and production of smart catheters and position Europe as primary innovator and manufacturer in this economically and socially relevant market.
The problem addressed in POSITION-II
Smart catheters and instruments add “eyes and ears” to minimally invasive instruments. Many clinical studies have underlined their value in improving the outcome of interventions, and in reducing cost. However, originating from traditional catheter manufacturers, these devices are without exception made with outdated 20th century technology resulting in a non-optimal performance and increased cost due to manual assembly.
Relevance to society
POSITION-II will enhance the competitiveness of Europe in the rapidly emerging field of minimal invasive surgery. It will enable the further development of the European R&D and manufacturing capability in an extremely innovative industrial segment with a high economic importance, not only encompassing the micro-fabricated device itself, but also the various value chains that they enable. Finally, by bringing smart catheters into the domain of high volume manufacturing, POSITION-II will improve the quality of health-care at manageable cost. In summary POSITION-II will:
• Position Europe as innovator in smart catheters and implants,
by building on Europe’s strength in medical diagnostic equipment and monitoring systems, and leveraging these with Europe’s premier position in advanced micro-fabrication and mixed signal circuit design and fabrication;
• Consolidate Europe’s number one position in cath lab infrastructure,
by taking the lead in the development of the next generation smart catheters based upon an optimal alignment with, and integration into the cath lab infrastructure, thereby securing a €2.0 billion value market segment;
• Enable the best healthcare for everybody at affordable cost,
by replacing point solutions with scalable and manufacturable platform technologies and standardization for lower cost, and faster innovation cycles resulting in more accurate instruments for a better and affordable targeted therapy.
Overall objectives of POSTION-II
In the POSITION-II initiative a pilot line for the realization of the next generation of smart catheters and implants will be established. In this pilot line scalable open technology platforms based on essential technologies contributed by many European companies will be integrated in one manufacturing network. POSITION-II will enable the electronic industry to take the lead in the development of these live saving instruments. The next generation smart catheters developed in POSITION-II will:
• Use open platform technologies that are steered by roadmaps enabling end-users to focus on applications, rather than technology development. The technology platforms will be accessible to multiple end-users;
• Bring digitization at the tip to reduce wires and thus

Work performed

In the first year of the project, essential steps have been made detailing the work and defining roles and intermediate deliverables and milestones: all of the demonstrator and work package teams had a very good start and are on schedule with the execution of the plans. First experimental results have become available and most results prove to be very promising, indicating that the feasibility to reach the end goals of the project is very high.

Final results

The POSITION-II project will contribute to industrial competiveness, growth and sustainability by enabling the electronic industry in Europe to use its expertise in high-speed digital interfaces, miniaturization, heterogeneous integration, wireless communication and high-volume manufacturing to take the lead in the development of technology platforms for the next generation of smart catheters and implants and enter this high revenue market. The POSITION-II project will:
• Bring smart catheter development and production back to Europe;
• Strengthen and expand Europe’s premier position in cath lab infrastructure;
• Strengthen Europe’s technology position for smart implants.
The smart medical devices developed within the POSITION-II project will help fighting the increasing cost of healthcare by the development of better and more affordable minimal invasive instruments and implants.


The second generation of smart catheters will be more and more driven by the electronic industry, thereby moving to mass manufacturable platform technologies and resulting in an optimal integration into the cath lab infrastructure.

The POSITION-II project will increase the innovation capacity of Europe in the field of minimal invasive devices, smart catheters and Implants through two mechanisms:
• Platforms enable new products with a shorter time to market
By introducing platforms for miniaturization, digitization and integration in the cath lab, catheter manufacturers who develop new and better instruments can concentrate on developing the application itself, rather than having to worry and deal with the underlying technologies. This will result in faster development cycles of better products that are directly accessible in the main patient visualization system.
• Enabling the next generation of implantable devices.
The technologies developed in POSITION-II for the second generation of smart catheters are easily adapted to suit the requirements of the next generation of bioelectronic implants. These bioelectronic implants are expected to become a strong competitor of traditional pharmaceuticals, and as such represent a huge market potential

The five demonstrators that are being developed in POSITION-II, each have their own specific economic and societal impact by improving patient outcomes, lowering healthcare costs and enhancing patient and (medical) staff experience.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.informed-project.eu/.