If a company does not have funding for a project, then it can reach out to other entities for additional support, such as a federal organizations like the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Veteran’s Administration, the Departments of Energy and Education (DOE), and so forth. If no external funding is provided and there’s a potential of a project’s costs exceeding its revenue, then it is not likely that a company will follow through with the project regardless of its potential. An NCBI article on federal support for medical device innovation states that federal funding towards the biomedical field is “small and scattered” due to the vast range of multidisciplinary aspects incorporated into biomedical engineering. Research groups that are more distinct, such as the National Cancer Institute, view the biomedical field as one that lacks the organizational focus that a standard research group is expected to have. This can be attributed to the biomedical field’s tendency of crossing regulations for i.e. electronic devices with that of drug/chemical release when designing a combination device.

The federal funding that is offered is aimed towards fields that treat a high patient count as a result of debilitating diseases and conditions. The development of neural prostheses for example, receives significant federal funding to treat trauma that results in the loss of motor function since there are no current techniques that can adequately restore trauma done to the nervous system. Research groups that develop biosensing devices and metabolic imaging are also funded since they prioritize the enhancement of detecting and diagnosing conditions while they are still treatable. What other biomedical research groups might also be candidates for federal funding? There is a substantial amount of funds geared towards the production of artificial organs, what about the improvement of minimally invasive procedures that aim to negate the need for high-cost surgery (such as investing in angioplasty to replace open-heart surgery)?

National Academy of Engineering (US); Institute of Medicine (US); Ekelman KB, editor. New Medical Devices: Invention, Development, and Use. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1988. Federal Support of Medical Device Innovation. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218283/