FAQ

Do I have to be an engineer? Do I need technical skills?

No! Anyone interested and committed to participating is welcome to apply. If you enjoy working with a team and are interested in tackling a biomedical problem, we would love to have your perspective. Every team needs legal, medical, biological, engineering, and entrepreneurial advice. So experience and interest in at least one of those areas is encouraged.

What is the time commitment?

You get what you put in! This is your company. We’ve had people work anywhere from 1 to 10 hours/week. At the beginning, many teams meet for 1-3 hrs/ week to talk to clinicians and patients, and analyze the clinical need and possible market for the proposed product. Before design reviews, teams usually take 1-2 days out of their weekend to finalize their presentation or prototype.
Project managers can expect a heavier load of 3-4 hours per week at minimum.

What resources do teams have?

Financial:​ $2000 distributed as teams reach milestones and need funds to progress. Yes, you read correctly: $2 grand!
Space: Details coming soon!
Technical: Details coming soon!
Legal: Details coming soon!
Advisors: Professionals and faculty from the University of Michigan community

Who owns the work teams do?

We are still working on finalizing IP details. Ideally, our team members will own 100% of the intellectual property of their work, and if incorporated, 100% of the equity in their company.

What does a team look like? How big are the teams?

4-6 people, composed of at least one undergraduate, one graduate, one medical student, and one business or law student. Team members should span across a variety of fields including medicine, biological sciences, engineering (biomedical, mechanical, computer science, chemical, electrical, etc), business, and law.

How do I join a team?

If you are interested, please fill out our interest form HERE. Then, come to Problem Day! Sign up for teams that sound interesting. You'll be interviewed by project managers and hopefully accepted to a team.

How would we choose a problem to tackle?

You can come in with you own problems, or choose from our list of clinical problems! A project manager will also pick a few that he/she is interested in as a starting point, and then the entire team should come together and pick an interesting, relevant, and doable problem.

What does a team meeting look like?

This is largely determined on the group dynamics and how the team leader decides to run things. Some teams like to work on things in concert in a single space at a specified time, while other teams prefer to have leaders manage member individually and meet as a team only for brainstorming or team decisions. However it works, all members of the team have a say and should indicate how they think they work best and what they would enjoy most!

How would we solve the problems?

That’s up to you! Members tend to draw on their experiences and educational backgrounds as they develop solutions (one reason why its so important to have a diverse group). We also encourage teams to engage with their clinical mentors and get a first-hand understanding of what the problem actually looks like. From there, the best thing to do is to just get to work - launch fast and iterate!