The new hot industry: Medical Devices
Technology changes many things but the most profound change is probably in the medical devices area. In the past few years, there have been many innovations in new medical devices that people cannot even think possible few years ago. As computer is getting faster and better, medical device companies can develop many new devices that are smaller and more convenience. Few months ago, I saw a demonstration of advanced wireless medical device that can be used to monitor blood glucose levels for diabetics. The sensor and transmitter wirelessly send glucose information to the wearable device every 5 minutes which can be transferred to your computer for easy sharing with doctors. Last week, I saw the “thought-controlled bionic leg” in a Chicago hospital where patients who are paralyzed were walking around with their artificial legs by thinking that they are walking.
A medical device company founder told me: “Medical devices will be “hot industry” as more people are getting older and need help in monitoring their health. This is a multi-billion dollars business that most people do not even know. Today the focus is still on telecommunication area but healthcare and medical devices are the next “hot things” With advances in technology, the medical device market is growing fast, especially with an aging population put more demands for healthcare products and services.” Currently there are all types of devices being developed, from replacement heart valves, robotic prosthesis for arms and legs, implantable devices for heart defibrillation, to optical surgical lasers and other surgical instruments. It is clear that medical device companies have a tremendous opportunity but one key issue remain: The lack of software workers in this field.
A company founder explained: “All of our devices need software to collect data to improve the care, safety, and security for patients. There are plenty of electrical and electronics engineers who specialized in electronic devices; there are enough mechanical and chemical engineers who design and create devices; the only skill that we cannot find is software engineers who write software for our devices. What we need is software engineer who specialize in mobile apps. We cannot hire IOS or Android programmers with few months of Java programming to work in our industry; we are dealing with high quality, safety, and reliable software as our products are dealing with human life. We cannot grow fast without having enough software engineers.”
Mobile app development is relatively new area and only few universities have special training programs. Mobile apps for the medical device industry requires special engineering skill sets in the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make medical devices working properly, safely, and reliably.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
