Poliks also serves as director of the CAMM, which is the official New York node of the national NextFlex manufacturing institute, based in San Jose, California. The Flex Med CAT designation will help Binghamton build on the CAMM, which Poliks called a “well established organization.” “The FlexMed CAT provides and infrastructure and an umbrella over […]
Poliks also serves as director of the CAMM, which is the official New York node of the national NextFlex manufacturing institute, based in San Jose, California.
The Flex Med CAT designation will help Binghamton build on the CAMM, which Poliks called a “well established organization.”
“The FlexMed CAT provides and infrastructure and an umbrella over this successful organization to help us to seed new projects with perhaps smaller companies that will allow us then to work with them on this larger scale … meaning hopefully to help them find federal funding and to work with them in partnership as they develop devices that could be tested in the field or eventually tested in clinical settings,” says Poliks, who spoke with CNYBJ on July 1.
Flexible medical devices could include lightweight sensors for use in monitoring hospital patients, athletes, and members of the armed forces.
FlexMed CAT will use about half of its funding award for matching dollars if a New York company wants to work with the CAT on testing or developing a given technology, says Poliks. It will use the other half for infrastructure and support of the center, he adds.
Vision for FlexMed
Poliks, the author of more than 100 technical papers, holds 47 U.S. patents, according to Binghamton University. He envisions the center working with startup companies around the state to develop prototype devices in a cost-efficient and timely fashion so that they can be brought to market as quickly as possible. Initial projects may include wearable biosensors embedded in textiles and roll-to-roll manufacturing of electronic glass and ceramic surfaces.
The center, an “interdisciplinary effort” with collaborators at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which has campuses in Albany and the Mohawk Valley, will offer training, workshops and academic classes, Binghamton University said.
As an educator, Poliks also likes the workforce-development aspect of this center. Students at Binghamton and at SUNY Poly will have the chance to learn techniques and prepare for careers in this sector when they graduate, he notes.
FlexMed will serve as the nucleus of a manufacturing-industry cluster in the quickly emerging field of medical- and pharmaceutical-device manufacturing, according to Howard Zemsky, president, CEO, and commissioner of Empire State Development.
“It will enable industry partners to scale up flexible-hybrid electronics technologies and present them to the marketplace more quickly, while harnessing various academic capabilities for product development and commercialization, workforce development and job creation efforts for New York state,” Zemsky said in the release.
