Hard to believe another year is nearly over. 2016 is just around the corner. Another election year, and that will bring many changes, we can be certain. A new president and a new Congress could substantially impact the medical device industry. Will the Affordable Care Act be upheld, modified, or abolished? How about the medical device excise tax? What federal agencies will be left standing or eliminated? If the candidates’ statements so far are any indication, there could be major transitions ahead.

Pictured left to right: Grand Prize winners Jason Heuring, Dr. Reynolds Delgado, and Omar Benavides of Procyrion; MDB editor Beth Sisk; Medical Category winner Mark Eaton of Stellarray.
On November 6, Tech Briefs Media Group’s Create the Future Design Contest awardees were hosted at a dinner reception held in New York City. It was an honor to meet the Grand Prize winners from Procyrion, Houston, TX, who created the Aortix™, the first catheter-deployed, long-term treatment option designed to reduce the workload of the heart, allowing it to rest and heal.

I always find it fascinating to hear the stories behind the inspiration for the Design Contest winners. This year’s crop of talented dreamers and doers was no exception. First-place category winners included: Smart X-ray Source; Smart Coating for Corrosion Detection and Prevention; Real-Time Fiber Optic Sensing System; Compact Long-Reach Robotic Arm; An Ultra-Small, Low-Cost Hazardous Gas Detector Using Novel Chip-Scale Chemical Sensor Technology; Solar Lighting with Fiber Optics; and, because even engineers need a little more fun in their lives, a Modular Jet Ski. You can learn more about all of the winning entries here: http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/winners . Next year’s contest will be open for entries as of March 1, so get those ideas ready.

This year, we featured 12 outstanding Products of the Month. See page 78 for details on how you can vote for the product that you feel was the most significant new product introduced to the engineering community. The product(s) with the most votes will be named Medical Design Briefs’ Readers’ Choice Product of the Year.

Due to strong reader demand, we will be expanding editorial coverage of materials, single-use devices, cybersecurity, digital health/ wearable technology, and manufacturing and fabrication technologies.

In 2016, I look forward to continue bringing you the latest advances in materials, technology, manufacturing, and regulatory issues facing medical design engineers. Feel free to reach out to me anytime with news and ideas for articles.

Beth G. Sisk, Editor
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