Devices & Diagnostics, Diagnostics, Health IT, Pharma

To make smart sensor production affordable, Purdue and Indiana U form medtech consortium

The Purdue-based collaboration will use a $13 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense spread over five years to launch the Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute.

MedCity News has partnered with BioCrossroads to provide coverage focused on Indiana’s next generation of growth and innovation in life sciences.

If Purdue University electrical and computer engineering Professor Ali Shakouri could wave a magic wand, inventors of unconventional technologies wouldn’t think of fabrication as an afterthought. But on the plus side, he is heading up a public-private initiative that includes Indiana University and Purdue University, and companies such as Eli Lilly & Co, Roche, and Samsung as part of a nationwide initiative to make smart sensors used in medical technologies and beyond efficient to produce at an affordable cost.

Indiana is just one part of a $171 million initiative by the U.S. Department of Defense to advance research and manufacturing in flexible hybrid electronics. It involves institutions in several states including Massachusetts, California, Georgia, New York and Texas.

The collaboration based at Purdue will use a $13 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense spread over five years to launch the Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute. It will focus on the design, manufacturing and integration of electronics and sensors, according to a university statement. It also will examine assembly and test automation for using complex flexible hybrid electronics on non-traditional bendable, stretchable and foldable substrates.

There are three technology drivers listed in the IU-PUIA proposal:

  • med tech, including medical sensing and biosensing;
  • wearable technology measuring human performance and human robotics; and
  • the Internet of Things — putting sensors on large areas and monitoring the data they transmit.

“We don’t yet have a path for full-scale manufacturing for smart sensors,” Shakouri said in a phone interview. “The goal is to bring technologies [such as smart wound dressings, smart pills ] closer to market, to lower the barrier for commerialization.”

He clarified that there is not a single project for a single company but that the consortium will resolve common barriers for several companies so each of them benefits.

Shakouri explained that a consortium of private and public players was necessary because the learning curve to making smart sensor technology available on a massive scale is too costly for any one company to do on its own. He also hopes the institute will have a life beyond its five-year funding cycle. He likened the consortium approach to those formed in other industries, such as those in the semiconductor industry.

Although the companies in the semiconductor industry competed against each other, they formed the Semiconductor Research Corp. because they needed to collaborate in the longterm to lower the production barriers and create smaller transmitters.

Shakouri estimated that 25 faculty will be involved from Purdue and Indiana University, but it will be clearer in the next couple months when the consortium forms an advisory board with members from industry and academia.

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