The Grand Challenges of Medical Technology

New developments in medical technology span the breadth of the healthcare environment providing new solutions for therapies, diagnostics, and imaging. Healthcare is a billion dollar market which drives the development and progression of healthcare technologies to the clinic. The innovative approaches which involve novel tools and technologies form the basis for this translation. Exciting areas highlighted by this new Journal, such as Cardiovascular Medtech, Nano-Based Drug Delivery, Medtech Data Analytics, Pharmaceutical Innovations, Regulatory Affairs and Regenerative Technologies represent key examples where step changes in healthcare solutions are being addressed. In each one of these sectors and across sectors, there are major challenges which we can identify.

Probably the biggest underlying global challenge which requires a new “mind set” is maintaining a high quality of life for our aging populations. Across the globe, people are living longer and requiring new solutions to address life as an aged citizen. Regenerative technologies and robotics are highlighting a new era of how we maintain a healthy life through a millennial lifespan. Soft robotics and tissue engineering provide potential reparative solutions. New innovative technologies can help to maintain healthy lives in our aging populations by addressing major chronic and acute clinical conditions. Scientific disciplines in biology and molecular approaches have revealed the potential for new drugs and treatments, however, there are still significant gaps in the enabling technologies and supporting medical technology devices which need addressing. Recent viral pandemics such as COVID 19 have demonstrated clearly the need for new medical technologies to fight disease such as portable ventilators and respiratory assistive devices useable throughout the world in developed and underdeveloped countries. These future technologies require the skillsets of a diverse academic base crossing many scientific and engineering communities. In addition, to bring new approaches to the clinic, many facets of the field must be determined and defined to the standards and rigor of the scientific, regulatory and clinical communities. With the increase in innovative technologies and regenerative therapies aiming for the clinic, there are key challenges in delivery systems, metrology, quantitative and computational modeling, data throughput, multimodal approaches for the characterization of disease and treatments, physiological and biochemical monitoring of clinical treatments and tools, technology integration and automation.