Meet the 2016 MD&M West Innovation Prize Winner

Product Creation Studio won over innovation tour attendees at the Anaheim, CA show with a story of innovative design. 

Qmed Staff

Product Creation Studio over several years worked with a company called LumiThera to develop a device that uses low-level light therapy (also called photobiomodulation) to treat age-related macular degeneration.

The result of the work--the LT-300--wowed enough innovation tour attendees at MD&M West to win the 2016 MD&M West Innovation Prize. The Seattle-based design studio, which is at Booth #1977 at the February 9-11 show, narrowly beat out quick turn manufacturer Proto Labs (Maple Plain, MN; Booth #3415) and its automatic interactive quoting system for prototyping.

The four other finalists were Marubeni Citizen Cincom (Allendale, NJ; Booth #3278) and its platform that can perform both laser cutting and conventional machining; ProPlate/Professional Plating Inc. (Anoka, MN; Booth #438) and its Torq-Lok braided catheter coating innovation; SUSE (Cambridge, MA; Booth #661) and its innovative Linux OS; and Syneo and Gimac di Maccagnan Giorgio (Booth #2213) and their system for fully automating the jacketing of guidewires. 

The LT-300 is presently being used in clinical trials, and delivers precisely dosed LED lights to an AMD patient's retina. The LEDs are meant to stimulate the mitochondria in the eye, potentially halting the degenerative effects of AMD and even improving the condition of the eye. Product Creation Studio and LumiThera claim the LT-300 could prove more effective than other AMD treatments such as vitamin intake and eye injections.

Innovative design has wowed innovation tours at previous UBM shows. EG-GILERO (Durham, NC; Booth #3248) won the Supplier Innovation Challenge at MD&M East in New York last year with a demonstration of simple and intuitive design when it came to a dental anesthesia dispenser for Anutra Medical (Morrisville, NC).

Brian Buntz is the editor-in-chief of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @brian_buntz. Chris Newmarker is senior editor of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker

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