On 14-17 November 2022, the MEDICA 2022 medical industry trade fair was held in Düsseldorf, during which inventions by the scientists of the Medical University of Gdansk were presented for the first time. Thanks to the cooperation between the MUG Technology Transfer Office and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, the offer of our scientists was presented at an information and promotion stand as part of the Medical Equipment Industry Promotion Programme.
MEDICA is the largest medical forum in the world, attracting industry representatives from around the world for more than 40 years. The event is aimed at manufacturers and distributors of medical equipment, healthcare, representatives of research and educational institutions. The trade fair is an excellent opportunity to learn about the broad spectrum of ambulatory and hospital care units: from laboratory and diagnostic technology, physical therapy products and auxiliary materials, electromedical equipment, technical equipment and information and communication technologies for healthcare facilities, to room finishing and equipment and medical facility management. In 2022, the 19 exhibition halls of the Messe Dusseldorf complex welcomed more than 5,000 exhibitors from all over the world among which the largest group was Asian. There were more than 81,000 visitors over the four days of the fair.
Representatives of the Polish medical sector had the opportunity to reach out with their offer directly to potential contractors using an area arranged by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Films and presentations promoting the solutions of the Polish medical industry were displayed on multimedia screens. Both the excellent organisation of the stand, providing comfortable conditions for business talks, and the commitment of the PARP employees resulted in the appearance of hundreds of visitors from all over the world. Of the 100 Polish entities promoted at the event, more than 50 were present at the fair in person to establish new business contacts with potential partners.
Marcin Stolarek from the Technology Transfer Office of the Medical University of Gdansk participated in the fair by presenting the know-how, technologies and innovative projects implemented by the scientists of the Medical University of Gdansk. To this end, he held dozens of talks, the main topics of which were the possibility of selling or granting licences to entities interested in the presented inventions. In addition, as part of the activities undertaken, a representative of the MUG took part in the 'business to business’ (B2B) ’MEDICA Healthcare Brokerage Event 2022’ organised by Enterprise Europe Network, Europe’s largest network of centres and institutions supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. During meetings as part of the cooperation exchange, companies asked about the possibilities of building consortia to initiate cooperation, as well as about experiences in building interdisciplinary scientific teams to carry out research and development work. The following inventions were presented at the official Polish information and promotional stand:
- Apparatus for non-invasive collection of exhaled breath gas condensates.
Creators: Prof. Tomasz Bączek, MD, PhD, Lucyna Konieczna from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Prof. Janusz Siebert, MD, PhD, Łukasz Doliński, MD, Marek Krawczuk, MD, Grzegorz Redlarski, PhD, from the Gdańsk University of Technology. - Bio3P – software for the collection, management and processing of patient, donor and biological material data, as well as the management of entire biological collections and their storage.
Authors: Jakub Mieczkowski, PhD, Natalia Filipowicz, PhD, International Research Agenda - DEROtator R.PAN – a surgical tool enabling safe direct derotation of the spine in the course of surgical treatment of scoliosis.
Creator: Prof. Rafał Pankowski, MD, from the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the Motor Organ - Combined gastrointestinal vascular assessment device – a device consisting of a probe equipped with measurement sensors and an electronic control unit used during resection of pathologically altered gastrointestinal organs to obtain information on the degree of tissue oxygen saturation. This facilitates correct anastomosis to ensure proper wound healing.
Creators: Prof. Jacek Zieliński, MD, PhD, from the Chair and Department of Oncological Surgery at the Medical University of Gdansk, who presented the solution as an exhibitor, Adam Bujnowski, MD, PhD, Jerzy Wtorek, MD, Tomasz Neumann, PhD, from the Gdańsk University of Technology. - A dispersive extraction kit for solid phase and a dispersive extraction method made by 3D printing, allowing complete and reproducible separation of liquid and solid phases in the dispersive extraction process.
Creators: Prof. Tomasz Bączek; Dr. Mariusz Belka; Dr. Szymon Ulenberg; Dagmara Szynkiewicz, M.Sc.; Pavel Georgiev, M.Sc. from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. - A shielding overlay for dermoscopes – equipped with magnets to eliminate the effect of the magnetic field on the functioning of cardiac implantable devices. The invention reduces the intensity of the magnetic field to a level acceptable to manufacturers of cardiac electronic implantable devices.
The inventors: Zbigniew Usarek, MD, PhD, from the Gdansk University of Technology, Grzegorz Slawinski, MD, PhD, from the Department of Cardiology and Cardiac Electrotherapy at the Medical University of Gdansk, and Martyna Slawinska, MD, from the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology at the Medical University of Gdansk, in collaboration with prof. Grzegorz Raczak and Prof. Ewa Lewicka from the Department of Cardiology and Cardiac Electrotherapy and Dr. Michał Sobjanek and Prof. Roman J. Nowicki from the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology. - Innovative device for human and animal soft tissue biopsy – a device for coarse-needle biopsy which, unlike the devices currently in use, will allow simultaneous collection of healthy and pathological tissue, shortening the procedure time and minimising patient discomfort.
Creators: Prof. Jacek Zieliński from the Chair and Department of Oncological Surgery, Adam Bujnowski, MD, PhD, Prof. Jerzy Wtorek and Lech Józefiak, MD, PhD, from the Gdańsk University of Technology. - Development of a diagnostic kit for assessing the risk of developing an infection in patients with bacteriuria – a diagnostic kit for urinalysis to significantly reduce pre-laboratory errors and simplify the interpretation of results.
Authors: Tomasz Jarzembowski, PhD, Lidia Piechowicz, PhD and Katarzyna Wiśniewska, PhD, from the Department of Medical Microbiology, Prof. Ewa Bryl and Agnieszka Daca, PhD, from the Department of Pathology and Experimental Rheumatology and Prof. Jacek Witkowski from the Department of Physiopathology. - Respiratory phase detector – a device used to identify the respiratory phase in a patient breathing spontaneously through an artificial airway (endotracheal or tracheotomy tube) with a connected heat and moisture exchanger.
Creators: Tomasz Zwoliński, MD, PhD, Radosław Owczuk, PhD, Magdalena Wujtewicz, PhD, Rita Hansdorfer-Korzon. - A system for measuring the absorbance of a sample of biological material in liquid form and a method of discrimination of urinary tract infections realised by means of this system – a device enabling diagnostics of urosepsis from a patient’s urine sample in less than 20 minutes.
Authors: Paweł Wityk, M.Sc., Michał Markuszewski, M.Sc., Patryk Sokołowski, M.Sc., Małgorzata Szczerska, Ph.D., Beata Krawczyk, PhD.
The trip to the MEDICA 2022 trade fair was realised as part of the Innovation Incubator 4.0 programme, financed from European funds under the non-competition project 'Support for the management of scientific research and commercialisation of R&D results in scientific units and enterprises’, implemented under the Intelligent Development Operational Programme 2014-2020 by the MUG Technology Transfer Office.