INDUSTRY NEWS
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Managing director Jim Orkney is justifiably proud of the fact that Kinneir Dufort was one of nine UK companies chosen to receive a Best of British Industry award.
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Frost & Sullivan awarded its 2006 Enabling Technology award for patient monitoring equipment to CapsuleTech (www.capsuletech.com). The French firm has developed connectivity software that allows data from any bedside medical device to be integrated into any hospital information system. The DataCaptor system from CapsuleTech converts medical device data to a common XML or HL7 computer language and sends the data, via a unified stream, to healthcare information systems. The company’s connectivity middleware engine comprises more than 330 different types of healthcare products in its device interface library. “With the help of CapsuleTech’s technology, seamless medical data transfer will soon become the norm,” notes Frost & Sullivan analyst Aarati Ajay.
In the United States, Frost & Sullivan named Pilgrim Software (www.pilgrim software.com) the North American enterprise compliance and quality management company of the year within the life science industry. Its software’s scalable architecture and flexibility, which allows users to mix and match components as needed, has been instrumental in the product’s success, according to the firm. Frost and Sullivan analyst Sanjeev Sridharan also cited the company’s “exceptional know-how in taking advantage of market changes through the execution of innovative strategies . . . and [its] industry-specific solutions backed up by people with strong domain expertise.”
April in Paris will live up to its reputation for Swiss firm Icotec (www.icotec.biz) when it officially receives the first-place JEC Innovations Award for medical applications for its carbon composite implant. The ceremony takes place at the musée d’Orsay. A highlight of the 3–5 April JEC Composites trade show, the reception will honour what is described as the first bone plate system with carbon-composite screws for stabilizing the cervical spine. The device was developed for Signus Medizintechnik (Alzenau, Germany) by Icotec in collaboration with materials supplier Invibio (Thornton Cleveleys, Lancs, UK).
The use of composites in the fabrication of implants and surgical instruments is a fairly recent development. Icotec’s proprietary composite flow moulding (CFM) process enables the fabrication of high-load-bearing components, such as screws, from continuous fibre-reinforced composites. Advantages for medical and dental applications include the material’s radiolucent properties and its resistance to fatigue.
Across the channel, product and packaging design consultancy Kinneir Dufort (KD; www.kinneirdufort.com) also has its eye on a prize. The firm is one of nine selected to receive a Best of British Industry award. The awards programme, supported by the Sunday Times newspaper, recognizes UK companies that it deems to be at the forefront of creativity, innovation, and world-class competitiveness. KD has won numerous international awards for its design work, notably in the healthcare field, but “this is the first time KD as a company has been recognized as a leader in industry generally,” says managing director Jim Orkney. “It is doubly pleasing to see that we have been selected alongside such well-known names as Rolls Royce and Airbus.”
