A STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR START-UP MEDICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishan Maharaj ◽  
Bernadette Patricia Sunjka
2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 313-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Derera ◽  
Pepukayi Chitakunye ◽  
Charles O'Neill ◽  
Amandeep Tarkhar-Lail

This study explores gendered lending and marketing practices of start-up capital to women entrepreneurs in South Africa. A multi-method research design, comprising of 6 in-depth interviews with experts, and a survey of 50 women entrepreneurs was adopted using convenience and snowball sampling techniques, respectively. The findings revealed that women entrepreneurs are experiencing gendered discriminatory practices embedded in lending practices used by financial institutions, thereby discouraging them to venture into non-traditional industries. Whilst financial providers may know their products well, many emerging women entrepreneurs in South Africa may find it difficult and costly to obtain information on the thousands of financial products available. Hence, women entrepreneurs resort to taking greater risks than necessary in order to get their businesses off the ground. Educating women on financial matters is extremely important if South Africa is to benefit fully from the untapped entrepreneurial talent that women possess. The study adds voice to the discriminatory lending practices faced by women entrepreneurs in developing countries. Future research could explore the feasibility of establishing a financial institution which caters specifically for the needs of women.


2017 ◽  
Vol 113 (5/6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie de Jager ◽  
Chipo Chimhundu ◽  
Trust Saidi ◽  
Tania S. Douglas ◽  
◽  
...  

A characterisation of the medical device development landscape in South Africa would be beneficial for future policy developments that encourage locally developed devices to address local healthcare needs. The landscape was explored through a bibliometric analysis (2000–2013) of relevant scientific papers using co-authorship as an indicator of collaboration. Collaborating institutions thus found were divided into four sectors: academia (A); healthcare (H); industry (I); and science and support (S). A collaboration network was drawn to show the links between the institutions and analysed using network analysis metrics. Centrality measures identified seven dominant local institutions from three sectors. Group densities were used to quantify the extent of collaboration: the A sector collaborated the most extensively both within and between sectors; local collaborations were more prevalent than international collaborations. Translational collaborations (AHI, HIS or AHIS) are considered to be pivotal in fostering medical device innovation that is both relevant and likely to be commercialised. Few such collaborations were found, suggesting room for increased collaboration of these types in South Africa.


2012 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 82-83
Author(s):  
Norman Williams

In the course of my surgical career I have witnessed many groundbreaking developments that have dramatically improved and saved patients' lives and been truly transformational. Such breakthroughs have invariably occurred from a combination of science, surgical ingenuity and skill underpinned by the enthusiasm and drive of a variety of surgical innovators and medical device manufacturers. We should all be proud of the progress that has been made and the lives that have been saved and improved. However, from time to time I have also witnessed scandals involving surgical implants that have marred the reputation of not only the manufacturers but also, on occasion, the surgeons involved. These scandals have a significant impact on the specialty and can often inhibit progress, cause suffering to patients and destroy professional lives.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Görtz ◽  
Michael Byczkowski ◽  
Mathias Rath ◽  
Viktoria Schütz ◽  
Philipp Reimold ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND While digital and data-based technologies are widespread in various industries in the context of Industry 4.0, the use of smart, connected devices in healthcare is still in its beginnings. Innovative solutions for the medical environment suffer from difficult access to medical device data and high barriers for market entry due to proprietary systems. OBJECTIVE In the proof-of-concept project OP 4.1, we show the business viability of connecting and augmenting medical devices and data through software add-ons by giving companies a technical and commercial platform for the development, implementation, distribution, and billing of innovative software solutions. METHODS The creation of a central platform prototype requires the collaboration of several independent market contenders, amongst them medical users, software developers, medical device manufacturers, and platform providers. A dedicated consortium of clinical and scientific partners as well as industry partners was established. RESULTS We demonstrate the successful development of the prototype of a user-centric, open, and extensible platform for the intelligent support of processes starting with the operation room. By connecting heterogeneous data sources and medical devices from different manufacturers and making them accessible for software developers and medical users, the cloud-based platform OP 4.1 enables the augmentation of medical devices and procedures through software-based solutions. The platform also allows for the demand-oriented billing of applications and medical devices, thus permitting software-based solutions to fast-track their economic development and become commercially successful. CONCLUSIONS The technology and business platform OP 4.1 creates a multi-sided market for the successful development, implementation, distribution, and billing of new software solutions in the operation room and in the healthcare sector in general. Consequently, software-based medical innovation can be translated into clinical routine fast, efficiently, and cost-effectively, optimizing the treatment of patients through smartly assisted procedures.


Author(s):  
Yousef Abdulsalam ◽  
Dari Alhuwail ◽  
Eugene S. Schneller

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently mandated that medical device manufacturers adopt Unique Device Identification (UDI) standards on their medical devices. The benefits that UDI brings to hospitals and patients is relatively obvious, including inventory transparency, product safety, product equivalency, business intelligence. However, adoption by manufacturers, who face the mandate, has been slow in part because the benefit to them is not as readily perceived. This study focuses on the incentives, barriers, and benefits that medical device manufacturers perceive in UDI adoption. This study seeks to understand which adoption pressures are driving manufacturers to act, and attempts to gauge the benefits to manufacturers from UDI adoption. Through survey methods, the evidence suggests that medical device manufacturers implement UDI largely as a response to the coercive and normative pressures they face. There continues to be a high level of uncertainty regarding the return on investment for the medical device manufacturers, particularly from the late adopters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Rob O’Donoghue ◽  
Christa Henze ◽  
Chong Shimray ◽  
Kartikeya V. Sarabhai ◽  
Juan Carlos A. Sandoval Rivera

The Hand-Print concept emerged as a proposition for learner-led action learning in the Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Hand-Print CARE as an ethics-led action learning proposition was developed at a Local Culture for Understanding Mathematics and Science (LOCUMS) research group meeting with some educators in Alta, Norway. Here ‘CARE’ emerged as an acronym reflecting an ethic of inclusive respect through Concern for others, being Attentive to needs, showing Respect for each other and being Engaged in learning actions for the common good. Hand-Print CARE was thus activated as a co-engaged mediation process towards ‘Learning to look after others to best care for ourselves and the surroundings we all share’. Conceptual tools towards a Hand-Print CARE rationale were clarified in subsequent ESD workshops in Malaysia and Mexico and the challenge of developing a schema for ESD in school subject disciplines emerged at an ESD training workshop with National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) in Delhi, India. This article explores the emergence of Hand-Print CARE and the framing of an open-ended schema for mediating better-situated and ethics-led action learning in school subject disciplines. A formative perspective towards more locally situated and co-engaged processes for mediating learning was refined through an ESD Expert-Net collaboration to clarify ESD learning progressions in school subject disciplines. Some start-up materials were developed with partnering NGOs in the small town of Howick in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and in an expanding collaboration involving partners in India, Mexico, Germany and South Africa. Each of us worked to refine Hand-Print CARE learning progressions for ESD processes of action learning in diverse subject discipline and school-in-community settings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 645-647
Author(s):  
Michael Scholtes ◽  
Stephanie Buedenbender ◽  
Annemarie Behrend ◽  
Keywan Sohrabi ◽  
Volker Gross

AbstractThe complexity of medical devices and its user interactions increases. A growing number of incident reports are assumed to be associated primarily with user errors. This development is tackled through current modifications in standards, such as ISO 13485:2016 and legislations, such as the Medical Device Regulation. Both intensify the focus on use errors significantly. The aim of this paper was the development of a process orientated approach integrating usability engineering into a consisting risk management based on a classic V-model. An appropriate procedure was worked out. For each development step, risk and usability activities were cumulated. Thus, the present paper might help medical device manufacturers to reflect their risk management and usability management processes to find synergies. Prospectively, a step-by-step guide for the integration of risk management and usability engineering based on this approach should be developed.


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