If you’re the midnight tinkerer carrying around the design for a medical device, be sure to apply for the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center-M2D2 New Venture Competition by Feb. 10. The first-, second- and third-place winners will divvy up $50,000 worth of services from University of Massachusetts incubator M2D2, Smith & Nephew and Nutter McClennen and Fish LLP. And if you’ve got a sports medicine, joint reconstruction or trauma device on the brain, orthopedics innovators, bully for you.
While the competition is open to all early-stage medtech companies, Smith & Nephew is on the lookout for devices that service these needs in particular. According to a company statement, they seek startups with device solutions that would simplify surgical procedures, spare tissue during procedures, “provide high fixation strength both immediately and long-term” regardless of bone density, offer novel soft tissue repair or promote joint preservation.
M2D2 Co-Director Steve Tello said while any applicants will be considered to win the $50,000 prize, Smith & Nephew will pilot M2D2’s “big company little company model.” This means M2D2 would fulfill the basic parental role of an incubator, but the big company would step in with potentially a larger initial investment. He said Smith & Nephew is “really interested in developing its product pipeline.”
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For this competition, “early stage” definitely means pre-clinical, and perhaps even pre-prototype, as Tello said M2D2’s “sweet spot” is in prototyping.
Rather than a blank check for $50,000, the companies will split $25,000 worth of services and six months of free rent at M2D2’s space, plus $15,000 in legal services from Nutter McClennen and Fish LLP and $10,000 in services from Smith & Nephew (with the potential for more for orthopedic medical device companies). Once the winners are selected, they’ll receive consultation on how the funding might best be spent.
“We don’t have people spending it on things that really don’t help the concept or the company move forward,” Tello said. In fact, due to IP regulations, UMass doesn’t take an equity stake in the company. Neither does Nutter McClennen and Fish. “There’s not a lot of strings attached. It’s basically let’s figure out what the services you need are.”
Last year’s M2D2 first-place winner, Little Sparrows, a startup with a phototherapy treatment for jaundiced babies, went on to win a social impact award from Mass Challenge.
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Fifteen finalists for this year’s M2D2 competition will pitch to judges in March. The winners will be announced April 8.
To apply, click here.
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