A list of national student design competitions that emphasize innovative medical devices and technologies. 

What’s Next? 9th Annual AbilityOne Network Design Challenge

NISH

www.nish.org/designchallenge

Encourages development of assistive technologies that can empower people with disabilities to overcome barriers to employment.

CIMIT Prize for Primary Healthcare

Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology

www.cimit.org/print/grants-cimitprize.html

Seeks ideas for technological innovations with great potential to support and catalyze improved delivery of healthcare at the frontlines of medicine.

Student Design Competition

Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America

www.resna.org

Seeks creative and innovative designs that will assist an individual with a disability to function more independently.

BMEidea

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance

www.nciia.org

Development of new health-related technologies, invented by students, that addresses a real clinical need. Evaluation criteria include technical, economic, and regulatory feasibility, improved access to healthcare, technological innovation, and potential for commercialization.

BMEstart

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance

www.nciia.org

Similar to BMEidea competition but limited to undergraduate teams only.

Undergraduate Student Design Competition

Engineering in Biology and Medicine Society

www.embs.org

Involves designing and building an original device or a modification to an existing device that applies engineering principles to solving problems in medicine and biology.

DiabetesMine Design Challenge

www.diabetesmine.com/designcontest

Seeking ideas for innovative new diabetes devices or web applications.

Undergraduate Design Project Competition in Rehabilitation and Assistive Devices

Bioengineering Division, American Society of Mechanical Engineers

http://www.asmeconferences.org/SBC2011/PaperTypes.cfm

Showcases undergraduate work in rehabilitation engineering.

Student Design Competition

American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO)

www.asaio.com

Targeted towards projects involving a medical technology, including devices, tissue engineering, or cell therapy aimed at the treatment of diseases related to organ insufficiency.

Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health

http://www.nibib.nih.gov/Training/UndergradGrad/debut

Seeks projects that develop innovative solutions to unmet health and clinical problems.

Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation

National Braille Press

www.touchofgeniusprize.org

Recognizes contributions to innovation in the field of tactile literacy for blind people, including a new educational method, a new tactile literacy product, or a new technological advance.

Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize Competitions:

The “Cure It” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize,

Lemelson-MIT Program

www.lemelsonmit.slideroom.com

Seeks inventions that address opportunities in both developed and developing economies. The “Cure It” prize rewards technology based inventions that can improve healthcare.

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Compiled by: Jay R. Goldberg and Phil Weilerstein