Intense teamwork, workshops on the art of pitching, and then the presentation of projects and selecting the winners – this words can briefly describe the MedTech-Athon final “Engineers for Medicine”. The event was prepared by the CEZAMAT Center for Advanced Materials and Technologies, CZIiTT Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer Management and the WUT Doctoral School.

The main goal of MedTech-Athon was to develop a concept of practical solutions or demonstrators in the field of medicine by doctoral students of the Warsaw University of Technology. The originators and initiators of the event were Prof. Zbigniew Brzózka and Prof. Elżbieta Malinowska.

 
7 teams applied to participate in the competition. Each submitted team had to be interdisciplinary and consist of at least 2 participants of the WUT Doctoral Schools. – I wanted to participate because I like competition and I wanted to win a research grant. In addition, I was able to obtain the necessary ECTS points in the education program and take advantage of excellent training – Anthony Nwachukwu from the Doctoral School No. 3 WUT said.

The participants prepared for the final for almost two months. Last weekend, CEZAMAT hosted the main event, during which we got to know all the projects, and the jury selected the winners. – The participants of the event and the mentors, including people representing the medical and industrial environment, financial institutions and institutions dealing with legal regulations, as well as professors of our university, emphasized the high level of activity and creativity of the participants – prof. dr hab. Eng. Zbigniew Brzózka, member of the MedTech-Athon jury said.

The first place was taken by the Personal-Sensbox team, which received PLN 40,000 for implementation under the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” program at the POB Research Center “Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering”. – Those were very exhausting, but at the same time extremely stimulating and productive working days. The win made us very happy and added even more wind to the sails – Kasper Marchlewicz, leader of the Personal-Sensbox team said.

 

The second place ex aequo was taken by FluoFibers and Scienceporium . The jury awarded them PLN 30,000 to continue work on the projects.

The special award went to the Prędkość ​Dzika team , which received the award in the form of participation in the Akcelerator PW program, implemented by CZIiTT. – We are very pleased that we will be able to continue the project. We intend to intensify our work, refine the MVP ( Minimum Viable Product – a product with key functionality), apply for a patent and hopefully soon we will be able to show our solution at an industry fair, and then introduce it at the market – Piotr Falkowski , leader of the “Speed ​​Dzika” team said.

 

 

 

MedTech-Athon is not only an innovative competition, but also a proposal for a new form of education . The main event was preceded by a series of workshops for PhD students in the field of Design Thinking, Business Model Canvas, User Experience (UX) or project management . – AThe workshops were great. I loved them so much and learned from them, especially the business canvas – Anthony Nwachukwu added.

The benefits for doctoral students can obtain by participating in this innovative form of education depend primarily on their degree of commitment. – In my opinion, this 48-hour project marathon during which teams could benefit from the support of mentors is an excellent, effective form of creative education of WUT doctoral students through solving research problems in interdisciplinary teams – prof. dr hab. Eng. Elżbieta Malinowska claimed.

As the organizers assure, an event in a similar formula will be repeated .
– We are considering the possibility of expanding the group of participants to include doctoral students from medical and business universities, but I would not like to reveal all our ideas yet – Prof. Malinowska added.