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Companies hunt new ideas at the Medical Innovation Day

PhD students and Master’s degree students still have time to register for the Medical innovation Day on 6 October, where good ideas can be matched with real world challenges. The deadline for registration is Septembre 3rd. (note new registration deadline)

Attendees will include representatives from the biotech industry, who are ready to welcome useful solutions for tangible issues, when Health hosts the first Medical Innovation Day on 6 October. The goal of the event is to bring the university and business and industry closer together. The pharmaceutical company Roche is one of the companies that has accepted the invitation to meet entrepreneurial PhD students.

They expect to gain new perspectives on some of the areas that Roche works in. Mads Ekstrand-Olsen, who is medical country leader in Roche, explains:

"It is probably too much to hope for actual solutions to the personal medicine case that we are bringing along, but it would be great to finish the day with a new angle for looking at the task," he says. He applauds the university for informally inviting companies in this way.

Different directions welcomed

"We have to face the fact that we tend to live in our own particular world which means we think in the same way. It is beneficial for a company like ours to get a little prod in another direction and to see that there are alternative ways to go. Perhaps you just need to go in an unusual direction to find the unexpected, but obvious solution. We believe that the young researchers and students, who think in a completely different way, can help us with," says Mads Ekstrand-Olsen.

According to Professor Thomas Vorup-Jensen, who is chair of the organising committee, the intention of the Medical Innovation Day is indeed to create interaction between the companies and the participants from Health. He urges PhD students and other interested parties to utilise the opportunity and take part.

"It will be a day where we can promote the faculty and our PhD students for future employers, and where companies get the chance to shed light on some issues or tasks in a new and hopefully valuable way. Moreover, we also create an opportunity to network and find new contacts," says Thomas Vorup-Jensen.

What is the Medical Innovation Day?

The Medical Innovation Day will be held for the first time at Health on 6 October. It is a combination of a market for tasks (a challenge track) and an innovative stock exchange for ideas (innovative ideas). The deadline for registration is Septembre 3rd.

The participating companies present a case and the participants come up with a solution. The most suitable proposals are presented – and the best idea receives a prize.

The Medical Innovation Day will in future be held as an annual event that will be alternately anchored in one of the three PhD programmes that are found under the PhD degree programmes at Health; ClinFO, Public Health and Biomedicine. 

Registration deadline: Septembre 3rd (note new registration deadline): https://auws.au.dk/MID2017

Read also: Business and industry lays down a challenge: Crazy ideas are welcome

 

Contact

Professor with special responsibilities (MSO) Thomas Vorup-Jensen
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine 
Mobile: (+45) 2148 9781
vorup-jensen@biomed.au.dk