Virtual firm in biomedical education: a very successful experience.

In May 2006, the Institut Superieur d'Ingenieurs de Franche-Comté (ISIFC) launched its own virtual firm, which was named Biotika® by students. Virtual means that this company has no real legal status. It is a pedagogic model; however, the situation scenario for the ISIFC student engineers is real. They are currently working in real conditions on the development of new medical devices and on the modernization of medical products. The need for these innovative medical devices was identified by the students during their second-year (6 weeks) internship in hospitals. Biotika® is open between March and December every year. The students are "recruited" following an imitation job interview and each is then entrusted with a mission (engineer, project manager etc.) in one of the company's four departments: Research & Design, Quality-regulatory affairs, Clinical investigations, and Public relations-marketing. The personnel of Biotika® work on the development of innovative medical devices and/or the preparation of CE or FDA certification for 2 days per week. Since its launch, Biotika® has developed eight products and obtained many grants and prizes from French research and governmental organizations. It is also certified ISO 13485.

ISIFC - dual Biomedical Engineering School.

The Superior Institute for Biomedical Engineering (ISIFC), created in 2001, is part of the Franche-Comté University and is accredited by the French Ministry of National Education. Its originality lies in its innovative course of studies, which trains engineers in the scientific and medical fields to get both competencies. The Institute therefore collaborates with the University Hospital Centre of Besançon (CHU), biomedical companies and National Research Centres (CNRS and INSERM). The dual expertise trainees will have acquired at the end of their 3 years course covers medical and biological skills, scientific and Technical expertises. ISIFC engineers answer to manufacturer needs for skilled scientific and technical staff in instrumentation and techniques adapted to diagnosis, therapeutics and medical control, as well as the needs of potential users for biomedical devices, whether they are doctors, hospital staff, patients, laboratories, etc... Both the skills and the knowledge acquired by an ISIFC engineer will enable him/her to fulfil functions of study, research and development in the industrial sector.

Virtual firm as a role-playing tool for biomedical education.

The paper describes design of a role-playing tool based on the experience of the practice firm which allows participants to obtain relevant and practical on-the-job experience. The students played the roles of the employees and the applicants for vacant positions at the virtual firm - a small business specialized in biomedical sector - founded to design the demonstration vehicle for a biomedical device. We found that this innovative concept may be used to improve the young engineers performance and to facilitate their post-graduate integration.