Unlocking User Needs in Medtech

Back by popular demand, Unlocking User Needs in Medtech is a hands-on workshop for anyone with a great medtech idea—entrepreneurs, startups, clinicians, or problem-solvers—who wants to build something that truly works for real people.

Run by the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery and proudly supported by the Victorian Medtech Skills and Devices Hub, this in-person, half-day workshop will give you practical tools to take your idea from concept to life-changing product.

You'll begin with a short, engaging presentation before jumping into small group activities where you’ll explore real medtech products and uncover the user needs behind their design. Along the way, you’ll learn how thoughtful design choices are made—and spot opportunities to do even better.

Led by experienced medtech commercialisation experts, this workshop will help you ask the right questions, understand what users really need, and shape your idea into something that works in the real world.

By the end of the session, you’ll:

• Understand why identifying user needs is the most important first step in medtech development

• Learn from experts who’ve successfully brought products to life

• Practice the skills to map user needs and design better solutions

If you want to build smarter, safer, and more useful medical devices—this workshop is for you. Spaces are limited, so book early to secure your place.

Facilitators

Andrew Batty – Business Development Manager, ACMD: Andrew is an experienced medtech CEO and Executive Director, leading the Lincoln Consulting Group (LCG), Cerebral Therapeutics, iFix Medical, and VividWhite. He brings over 25-years’ experience in the healthcare sector where he has developed, executed and managed business strategies with companies to commercialise innovative and emerging technologies.

Jason Lemaire – Operations Manager, ACMD: Jason is a talented engineer with more than 20 years' experience in Victorian medtech. Having worked across operational, product development, quality, regulatory, and compliance roles with highly respected companies including Neo-Bionica, Ingeneus, Universal Biosensors, Medmont, and Optiscan, Jason brings a diverse skill set and body of knowledge on the path from idea to medtech product.

Alex Devlin, ACMD Projects: Alex is an experienced project officer with a background in science, biotechnology, and clinical trial management. Alex has worked as an HREC Executive Officer in the Research Governance Unit at St Vincent’s Hospital overseeing the validation, ethical review, management and operation of human clinical research to validate new devices and pharmaceuticals. He also has experience registering class I-IIb medical devices to the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods and monitoring clinical trials. Alex currently works with the team at ACMD to support projects within the ACMD Challenge and Advise programs, which seek to support early-stage MedTech collaborations undertaken by partner organisations.

Anita Petris – Industry Engagement Manager, Victorian Medtech Skills and Devices Hub: Anita is a talented medical technology commercialisation consultant with more than 25 years of experience working in local and international healthcare and medtech companies. Most recently working as VP Commercial & Market Insights at Planet Innovation and as a Commercial Support Consultant at Atmo Biosciences, her expertise and drive to successfully commercialise medical technologies equip her well to understand the needs of Victoria’s diverse medtech community.

Christopher Ong – Biomedical Engineer, LCG: Chris brings a wealth of knowledge in development of medical devices across the full product life cycle. He has a broad range of experience as a biomedical engineer for local and international startups developing life-changing technologies in the fields of ophthalmology, neuroscience and chronic pain management. He has previously worked with ACMD advising early-stage projects with multidisciplinary research teams. These experiences provide him with a deep understanding of the requirements for bringing a medical device from ideation to human trials.

About the ACMD

This workshop is delivered by the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD), a collaborative biomedical engineering centre accelerating the translation and commercialisation of medical research. This includes the delivery of much-needed, cutting-edge medical and healthcare solutions with a focus on medtech, biotech and digital health.

The ACMD brings together clinicians, major universities, leading research institutions, and innovative healthcare companies to develop novel technologies and drive the health system's transformation through research, collaboration and education.

The ACMD is co-located at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, expanding opportunities for clinician-led research. State-of-the-art equipment, laboratories and facilities combined with strong affiliations with universities foster a thriving biomedical engineering ecosystem.

Use of photos for marketing

The Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD) and the Victorian Medtech Skills and Devices Hub (VMH) regularly reproduce photographs of people in promotional and marketing material as well as on our web sites in order to promote our shared activities to the broader MedTech sector.

The ACMD and VMH would like to use and reproduce one or more photographs of you for this purpose and is seeking your consent.

Photographs of you which are sufficiently clear to identify you are considered personal information. The ACMD and VMH have a comprehensive policy addressing issues related to the use, collection, security and access to personal information which can be viewed here.

By attending this event you consent to the use of your photograph/s for the purpose stated above.