Environmental Scan 2017: Human Capital Issues within the Medical Devices Sector
Recommendation 2
2
Drive R&D and innovation within the MedDev industry in order to move up the value
chain
Recommended Actions
Stakeholder E.O.I. IMPACT
MoHE,
MOSTI M H
MoHE,
MAPCU
(Malaysian
Association
of Private
Colleges
and
Universities) M H
MoHE,
MIDA, IHLs M H
To further develop specialised talents within the medical devices space
via collaboration with leading International universities and research
organisations (e.g University of Stanford – Stanford Biodesign
Program).
Local research agency or university should collaborate with leading
research universities or agencies in overseas to further develop and
upskill its talent pool. This collaboration could also lead to new
innovations or even commercialization of new products or solutions.
Initiative
2.1
One example of collaboration which is widely adopted by many
universities and research agencies from different countries is the
collaboration with Stanford University through its Stanford Biodesign
program. The collaboration could be similar to an affiliate program
between the research agency and Stanford University. This partnership
can lead to collaborations between fellows from both institutions, the
development of new training materials and most importantly the
development of new and innovative solutions. The identified agency
should also identify the key objective of the collaboration initiative. It
could be related to specialized talent development within niche areas
related to medical devices.
In Singapore, the partnership between A*STAR and Stanford University
has led to the development of more than 20 Singapore-Stanford
Biodesign Fellows who are on their way to becoming leaders in their
respective fields.
To encourage both public and private universities to offer Masters
program related to Medical Devices. There a re a few Masters courses
for Biomedical Engineering available currently, but most of them are
research based. This initiative is to develop a pool of specialized talent
within the industry.
Initiative
2.2
Initiative
2.3
An example of a Masters program for the medical device industry is the
Masters in Medical Device & Diagnostic Engineering degree program
offered by University of Southern California (USC) in the US. This
program focuses on the key skillset required for the development of
medical devices and diagnostic techniques, including aspects of
medical product regulation and product development.
To introduce Industrial Postgraduate Program (IPP) to build up a pool
of postgraduate manpower with critical R&D skill-sets for roles in
industry through providing postgraduate training in a corporate R&D
environment.
Through this program, companies be able to nurture and develop
industry-ready R&D talent, they will also be able to leverage on the
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