PFI (RAPID): COVID Rapid Response Innovation Community

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) RAPID project is to enable the efficient and effective translation of innovative technology solutions to meet frontline medical shortages related to COVID-19. The pandemic triggered critical supply chain shortages. Non-medical engineers offered design and prototype solutions, but their expertise and innovations could not be deployed efficiently. These engineering innovators lacked connections to frontline healthcare decision-makers and were unfamiliar with the rigorous requirements of and processes related to the delivery of healthcare devices. Filling urgent shortfalls during a pandemic exemplifies the need to quickly assure safety while also considering rapid specification, design, scaling, testing and deployment. Therefore, this PFI RAPID project aims to develop, deploy, and evaluate the Connected Rapid Innovation System to meet Identified needs with Solutions (the CRISIS System) in order to satisfy supply chain shortages in Philadelphia, PA. The CRISIS system will streamline device development/delivery processes and create impactful, sustained connections between innovative engineers and local healthcare decision-makers – all with the goal to deliver technological innovations to solve frontline shortages. Dr. Flaura Winston and her team will include women and minorities as part of the effort and will engage the public in science and technology. This project may have an immediate benefit by addressing frontline medical device shortages related to COVID-19 and serve as a robust, real-world test case for future expansion to connected, efficient responses for future disaster and emergency shortages. In order to build, deploy and evaluate the CRISIS System, the team proposes two aims. In Aim 1, the group proposes to build the connected system and associated processes to incorporate best practices in medical device development and enable efficient, purposeful, systematic innovation. In Aim 2, they will build the back-end for matchmaking (between device/product needs and technical expertise and resources) through the application of novel artificial intelligence methods in order to employ multiple data sources (from public data to private corporate data) as well as real-time estimations of the degree of matching. Dr. Winston and her team will use continuous quality improvement methods to learn from each innovation cycle about how to optimize both the processes as well as the matches. The ultimate goal will be efficient delivery of technological solutions for COVID-19. If proven successful on the local level for COVID-19, the lessons learned, library of innovations, and software will be available for mass scale-up of innovation, unlocking the potential to meet needs during other disasters.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.