LONDON, Feb. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN;LSE: SN), the global medical technology business, is proud to announce it will again co-sponsor the Massachusetts Medical Device Development (M2D2) Center’s New Venture Competition. The annual, nationwide competition is designed to showcase innovative ideas coming out of early-stage medical device companies.
“We are thrilled that Smith & Nephew is sponsoring M2D2’s New Venture Competition again this year,” says Stephen McCarthy, M2D2 Director and Professor of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell. “Due in large part to this type of continued collaboration, our service prizes will double this year.”
For 2015, the competition’s prizes have been increased from $50,000 to $100,000 of in-kind services including facilities, engineering, legal, business and medical device assistance from Smith & Nephew and other co-sponsors, as well as M2D2, a joint initiative of the University of Massachusetts’ Lowell and Worcester campuses. 
For past winners, the competition has delivered by helping move their companies’ development forward.
“Participating and winning the 2014 M2D2 New Venture Competition forced business plan discipline and rigor, better preparing us to approach investors,” explains Paul Hayre, CEO of Sano, LLC. “It also significantly raised our profile and further accelerated our development due to our affiliation with M2D2, UMass Medical, and a world-renowned medical device company like Smith & Nephew.”
“Our experience last year was wonderful and helped make our decision to come back again this year even easier,” explains Dr. Ruth Cheng, Director of Innovation for Smith & Nephew’s Advanced Surgical Devices division. “We are known as a company that takes a pioneering approach to the design of our products and services and this competition helps us foster relationships with those entrepreneurs who are on the cutting edge of medical device innovation. For example, we continue to seek inexpensive, quick, accurate solutions that enable early diagnosis of cartilage damage.”
For the competition, Smith & Nephew has identified five areas where innovation will help address current and future needs in orthopaedic reconstruction, sports medicine, and trauma:
- Tools which enable procedure simplification: Solutions would reduce procedural steps, shorten overall procedure time, provide surgeons with greater confidence, and/or ensure consistency from procedure to procedure.
- Tissue sparing procedures: Solutions would shorten recovery time, decrease the incision/number of portals, and/or reduce bone removal/soft tissue damage, and/or minimize potential for human error.
- Stabilization of and integration/fixation to bone: Solutions would provide high fixation strength both immediately and long-term, and work regardless of bone density.
- Novel soft tissue repair: Solutions would provide or restore the alignment and functionality of the target tissue immediately and long term, and be minimally invasive.
- Joint preservation solutions: Solutions would provide effective diagnosis of early-stage osteoarthritis or offer protection of joints, and be minimally invasive. Solution can be either short-term or long-term/permanent. Early intervention solutions preferred.
All applicants must submit an initial application which will be reviewed by M2D2. Fifteen finalists will then be invited to present their concepts in-person at a public event at M2D2’s Lowell, MA offices on April 1.
For more information on the competition and how to apply, companies should visit www.uml.edu/M2D2.
Editor’s notes:
Smith & Nephew is known for its innovative products. These include the TRIGEN™ SURESHOT™ Nail System for fracture repair; the FAST-FIX◊ 360 for meniscal repairs; the HAT-TRICK™ Lesser Toe Repair System, and VERILAST™ Technology, Smith & Nephew’s proprietary OXINIUM™ alloy combining Oxidized Zirconium (a metal alloy) along with a highly crossed link plastic liner for knee and hip replacement products.
M2D2 leverages the engineering, business and clinical strengths of world-class researchers and resources at UMass Lowell and UMass Worcester to provide affordable and confidential services to medical device inventors and startups, as well as offering business incubator space on the UMass Lowell campus.
About Smith & Nephew
Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business dedicated to helping improve people’s lives. With leadership positions in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma, Smith & Nephew has around 14,000 employees and a presence in more than 100 countries. Annual sales in 2013 were more than $4.3 billion. Smith & Nephew is a member of the FTSE100 (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN).
About M2D2
M2D2, the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center, is a joint initiative of the Lowell and Worcester campuses of the UMasssystem. Its aim is to help new medical device entrepreneurs develop products every step of the way, from proof-of-concept to commercialization. Its affiliated faculty and staff have has assisted more than 100 start-up companies and entrepreneurs since the program kicked off in the spring of 2007.
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