Surgeon Idea → First Build
You describe the problem you keep running into in the OR. You get a machined prototype you can hold, a read on who already owns adjacent ideas, and a plain-language note on what approval would take.
AI-drafted · evidence-cited · human-reviewed
The sprint is run with a device design consultancy whose work has gone from clinician concept to commercial product. Names of past programs stay confidential — that is the same protection your concept gets.
Component manufacturing is in-house, so the sprint ends with something machined that you can hold, hand to a colleague, and use to argue for the next stage of funding.
A regulatory strategist gives you a written view on likely device classification and approval pathway before you spend money on the next step, so the surprise arrives now rather than in year two.
SUR-01
A mutual NDA before you describe the concept in detail. One call, typically an hour, to understand the clinical problem and what you have already tried.
SUR-02
A structured search of granted patents, applications, and published devices adjacent to the concept, with a written summary of what is crowded and what looks open.
SUR-03
Concept sketches, then CAD, then a machined prototype in a representative material. You see the design before it is cut.
SUR-04
The prototype, the CAD files, the IP scan, and a regulatory pathway memo — plus an honest conversation about whether this is worth continuing.
The offer
Pricing is fixed once we have seen the concept at the scoping review, or a reduced fee plus an agreed equity share if you are building a company around it — your choice, written into the agreement before work starts.
Intake is limited. A sprint ties up a design engineer and a machine, so we run a small number at once, and the review is where we tell you if your concept is not one we should take.
The lead time depends on the concept: a hand-instrument variant and an implantable are not the same job, and quoting them the same way would be dishonest. You get a date and a price in the same document.
AI-drafted · evidence-cited · human-reviewed
Limited intake
What happens in each week, what you receive, and how ownership is handled. One page, written for clinicians.
You do. The concept is yours before the sprint and any invention arising from it is yours after. We take only the limited licence needed to perform the work you engaged us for, and its exact scope is written into the statement of work you sign — not left to a general terms page. If you are working under an institutional agreement, your employer’s IP policy may also apply; we will ask about it early rather than late.
A mutual non-disclosure agreement is signed before the first detailed conversation. You do not have to describe the mechanism to get a meeting.
A machined part or assembly in a representative material — something with real geometry, real tolerances, and real feel in the hand. It is a feasibility and communication tool, not a clinical device: it is not sterile, not validated, and not for use in or on a patient.
It depends on the concept, and quoting a single number here would be a guess. The fee is fixed once we have seen the concept, and quoted before any work starts. If you would rather trade fee for equity, we will discuss that in writing first.
That is exactly what the IP scan is for, and finding out in week two for a fixed fee is the cheapest possible version of that news. Frequently the answer is more useful than a straight yes or no: something adjacent exists, and the gap between it and your idea is the actual invention.
Yes. Most clinical insight arrives to someone with a day job and no entity. The pathway memo and the prototype are the two artefacts that make the next conversation — with a company, an investor, or your institution’s tech transfer office — a real one.