▎Teaching & Learning

The development of new medical devices is an integral part of medical care, yet biomedicine companies often face difficulty finding the appropriate healthcare experts or institutions with whom to collaborate. To facilitate the innovation of new medical devices and build clinical research momentum in Taiwan, NTU has established the Research and Development Center for Medical Devices to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

Every year the Center hosts seminars with the theme “Unmet need for innovative medical devices: Perspective from clinicians,” inviting healthcare practitioners to share the latest trends in medical devices. These seminars not only help companies gain insight into new medical devices and approaches but also help biomedicine companies which are interested in developing medical technology assess whether their manufacturing capabilities can meet current clinical needs.

This year’s seminar focused on “The Clinical Application of Robotic Surgery,” inviting doctors from the NTU Hospital (NTUH), a leading medical institution in implementing robotic surgery systems. The invited lecturers included Dr. Sho-Mon Wang, NTUH Department of Urology, Dr. Tsung-Lin Yang, NTUH Department of Otolaryngology, and Dr. Shun-Mao Yang, Division of Thoracic Surgery at NTUH Hsin-Chu Branch.

All three doctors generously shared their extensive experience of applying robotic surgery tools with the audience. Dr. Wang focused on his observations and experience in the research and development of robotic-assisted urology surgery procedures while Dr. Tsung-Lin Yang delivered a presentation titled “Innovation and invention in the robotic surgery of otolaryngology and head and neck.” For his part, Dr. Shun-Mao Yang explained the significance and practice of robotic surgery in thoracic surgery. Through such sharing of expert knowledge and focused discussion, it is hoped that interested companies will be encouraged to apply for Center’s industry-academia cooperation projects and join NTU in fulfilling the unmet needs of patients.

Besides hosting regular seminars, the Research and Development Center for Medical Devices now participates in the National Science and Technology Council’s “Innovative Medical Devices and Precision Diagnosis and Treatment Project.” Using an organizational donation of TWD 1.5 million, the Center is working on a new research project to find out how to create value and develop suitable business models with medical devices for an aging population.