Judges selected these eight winners out of 16 finalists in a special COVID-19 edition of the "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" competition.

Amanda Pedersen

July 22, 2020

8 Slides

The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) announces eight winners chosen in its special COVID-19 edition of the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition. Focused on innovations in COVID-19-related pediatric medical devices that will improve children’s healthcare, 16 finalists competed this week in a virtual pitch event for a share of $250,000 in total grant awards.

A panel of 75 expert judges from healthcare, business, investor, and regulatory sectors selected award winners based on the clinical significance and commercial feasibility of their COVID-19-related medical devices for children. The competition focused on medical devices that support home health monitoring and telehealth, and improve sustainability, resiliency, and readiness in diagnosing and treating children during a pandemic.

“These winners represent some of the most promising emerging medical device innovations in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of children affected by COVID-19," said Paul Grand, CEO of MedTech Innovator. “I'm thrilled that we were able to work together with NCC-PDI and seventy-five expert industry stakeholders and clinicians to provide support for these innovators on their critical missions to improve and protect the lives of pediatric patients, our most vulnerable population.”

The event was presented by NCC-PDI co-founders Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, and powered by nonprofit accelerator and NCC-PDI member, MedTech Innovator.

“Because of the high quality of submissions and the critical need for pandemic-related pediatric medical devices, we are excited to recognize and award eight innovations from this event’s highly competitive field,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. “COVID-19 is presenting unprecedented challenges and my NCC-PDI colleagues and I know that supporting pediatric innovations will improve care for the patients and families we serve."

Along with grant funding, one company from the competition will be selected by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS at a later date to receive a one-year residency at JLABS in Washington DC, on the new Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus currently under construction. In addition to the 2021 JLABS residency, the awardee will have access to the JLABS community and expert mentoring by the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. NCC-PDI and JLABS will announce the recipient once the selection process is completed.

This year's competition was supported by a grant from FDA and a philanthropic gift from Mei Xu, founder of e-commerce platform Yes She May, a site dedicated to women-owned brands.

About the Author(s)

Amanda Pedersen

Amanda Pedersen is a veteran journalist and award-winning columnist with a passion for helping medical device professionals connect the dots between the medtech news of the day and the bigger picture. She has been covering the medtech industry since 2006.

Sign up for the QMED & MD+DI Daily newsletter.

You May Also Like