BME Day 2011
The following companies and institutions participated in the Biomedical Engineering Day 2011:
- Cascination AG, Switzerland
- CCMT, Switzerland
- Congrex, Switzerland
- Creapole SA, Switzerland
- Crisalix Sarl, Switzerland
- CSEM, Switzerland
- Helbling Technik Bern, Switzerland
- Phonak Acoustic Implants, Switzerland
- RMS Foundation, Switzerland
- Stryker Osteosynthesis, Switzerland
- Ypsomed, Switzerland
- Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems, Switzerland
The industry, medical doctors, and engineers meet for the Biomedical Engineering Day at the Inselspital in Bern with great success
On May 13, the Biomedical Engineering Day took place in the auditorium Ettore Rossi at the Inselspital in Bern. This event was organized for the third time by the Master in Biomedical Engineering program of the University of Bern and its alumni association, the Biomedical Engineering Club.
The event is an efficient platform in Switzerland for networking of Master and PhD graduates and Swiss and international medical technology companies. This year’s companies introduced themselves through oral presentations and gave insight into their commercial activities and their company philosophies as well as showed their demands on junior employees. Students thus had the opportunity to get to know potential future employers and contact them directly. This was made possible between the sessions in personal conversations and at the exhibitors’ booths. This year a broad spectrum was covered as presenters came from large concerns operating globally up to young start-ups from the University of Bern.
The BME Day offered great opportunities for the Bernese biomedical researchers, too. The ARTorg Center for Biomedical Engineering Research and the Institute for Surgical Technologies and Biomechanics as well as the Bern University of Applied Sciences, a partner within the Master program, used the possibility of presenting current research projects to over 300 participants. Interestingly, Master and PhD students play an important role in many of these projects. Thereby, this event was a demonstration of scientific achievements, too.
Besides company representatives, scientists, researchers, and young academics, many medical doctors participated in this year’s event as they had the chance for intensive communication with the biomedical engineers.
One highlight of the day was the successful live cardiac intervention by Professor Dr. Bernhard Meier, Director Department of Cardiology, Inselspital Bern. Illustrative explanations in the auditorium were given by Professor Dr. Rolf Vogel, ARTorg Center for Biomedical Engineering Research.
The presentation "An Inside Track to Entrepreneurship" by Ulf Claesson, serial entrepreneur was perceived very well. Eloquently and humorously he talked about the challenges when founding a company and gave insight into entrepreneurship from unexpected angles. Founding their own company might be an attractive professional perspective for many participants. In connection with translational medical technology research strategic and direct innovation promotion is very important from a political point of view. The Minister of Economic Affairs of the Canton of Bern, Andreas Rickenbacher, introduced the manifold activities of the Cantonal innovation promotion to the audience.
At the end of the day, three awards for excellent academic achievements in the field of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Bern were presented.
Patrik Stirnimann received the Medical Cluster Award 2011 for the best Master thesis. His work “Determinants of the mechanical response of trabecular bone-cement composite” has been accepted for publication in a journal and the results of his thesis have already been incorporated into a new diagnostic simulation software.
The Medical Cluster Award 2011 for the best PhD thesis was given to Matthias Peterhans for his work “Ultrasound-based non-invasive referencing of anatomical structures for computer-assisted soft tissue surgery”. His thesis is another example of successful translation of biomedical research into a commercially useful product.
The NCCR Co-Me Poster Award 2011 was given to Khadija M’Rabet Bensalah. Her poster “Multiscale hemodynamic modeling of the intrarenal circulation using the COMSOL multiphysics software” convinced the jury.
Lucky BME Master student Nina Ruef (middle) at the BME Day 2011 together with Prabitha Urwyler, BME Club president and Rudolf Sidler, Ypsomed. She won the iPad sponsored by Ypsomed.