NCIIA Announces Launch of 4th Annual Student Biomedical Innovation C...( HADLEY Mass. Sept. 26 -- Today t...)

HADLEY, Mass., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) announced the launch of the fourth annual Biomedical Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Awards (BMEidea) program. The NCIIA will accept competition entries from eligible student biomedical innovation teams via its online submission system through April 4, 2008. Teams planning to submit an entry may apply (by November 9, 2007) for a $500 product development stipend.

The launch was announced during the annual meeting of BME-IDEA, a network of educators with a shared interest in product innovation and technological entrepreneurship in bioengineering and biomedical engineering. The BME-IDEA network and the NCIIA launched the original BMEidea competition in 2004, responding to a call for recognition of student achievement and mentoring among student biomedical innovators who are motivated to bring their products to market.

BMEidea judges rank entries on all aspects of biomedical commercialization, from product innovation to market need, and from regulatory strategies to social impact. The experience not only prepares students for biomedical engineering careers, but connects them to key contacts in the industry and in their own academic institutions. Sponsors include Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry, Industrial Design Society of America, National Science Foundation, and Boston Scientific/Guidant. The competition is endorsed by the Biomedical Engineering Society and Council of Chairs of Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering Departments.

BMEidea winners are announced each June at the MDMEast conference in NYC during the Medical Design Excellence Awards ceremony. The first place team receives $10,000 and its name engraved on the BMEidea trophy, which spends a year at its home institution. The second place team wins $2,500 and the third place team wins $1,000.

2007 winners included a Johns Hopkins University te
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