Design Matters: Medical device design at NCAD

Did you know Ireland is a world leader in the design of medical devices? At the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Enda O’Dowd, lecturer and co-ordinator of the college’s MSc in medical device design, is enabling a new generation to fill jobs in this life-saving sector.

“It might sound like a strange one for NCAD: medical device design,” he says.

“For a lot of people [it is], actually, but they’re complicated things. As more technologies are involved, including drugs, electronics and engineering, the complexity increases, so having someone to be the voice of the end user, patient or clinician is where we come in.

“Although my background is in engineering, I had always preferred the creative side of things.

“I came to NCAD when the industrial design course was run in partnership with the University of Limerick. The medical device design course was set up in 2009 by Paul Fortune and when he retired in 2012 I took over.

“Designers used to be brought in at the end to make things look good, but the clever companies are now getting us in as early as possible.

“The beauty of this course is that it’s very collaborative. We teach the students the technical skills they need – not to be scientific designers but to understand the languages of science and engineering so that they can collaborate more effectively. Nurses, doctors and patients are all involved along the way.

“There’s usually about 12 students on the one-year course, they come from all over the world, and it’s probably unique in being studio-based.

“They all go on to good jobs, as nearly all the major players in medical device design have a facility in Ireland. We’re a European base for them, with a well-educated, English-speaking workforce, but there’s still a skills shortage.

“The human-focused innovation is very important, and we still stick to the hands-on focus, creating sketch models and trying things out, not going straight to computer.

“What we teach is a skills set that wasn’t in the industry until now, and it’s growing more important all the time.”