Course syllabus for Ideation for health tech

The course syllabus contains changes
See changes

Course syllabus adopted 2026-02-27 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameIdégenerering för hälsoteknik
  • CodeTRA535
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTRACKS
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • DepartmentTRACKS
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language

    English

  • Application code

    97189

  • Maximum participants

    15 (at least 10% of the seats are reserved for exchange students)

  • Minimum participants

    8

  • Block schedule

  • Open for exchange students

    Yes

Credit distribution

Module
Sp1
Sp2
Sp3
Sp4
Summer
Not Sp
Examination dates
0126 Project 7.5 c
Grading: TH		7.5 c

In programmes

Examiner

Eligibility

Information missing

Course specific prerequisites

In addition to the general requirements to study at the first-cycle level at Chalmers, necessary subject or project specific prerequisite competences (if any) must be fulfilled. Alternatively, the student must obtain the necessary competences during the course. The examiner will formulate and check these prerequisite competences.

The student should have a documented ability to work productively in a group of peers, e.g., completed a successful bachelor's thesis project, both with respect to the concrete outcome, the thesis, and its presentation, but also as a working process in itself. Regarding the academic background, the student will be part of an interdisciplinary group with academic training in various engineering fields plus medical experts, i.e., nurses, and MDs.

Aim

The course provides a platform to work and solve challenging cross-disciplinary authentic problems from different stakeholders in society such as the academy, industry or public institutions. Additionally, the aim is that students from different Chalmers¿ bachelor programs should work efficiently in multidisciplinary development teams.

The aim of the course is to develop skills in so-called called needs finding and ideation in health tech. More precisely, by observing and interacting at a given clinical environment at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, formulating, by well-tuned brainstorming meetings and interacting with the stake holders at the hospital and generate a substantial list of clinical needs. That list will then be scrutinized, in an equally well tuned filtering process, after some iterations, down to ideally one need for each group. That need will be the concrete ene-delivery.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

  • critically and creatively identify and/or formulate advanced architectural or engineering problems
  • lead and participate in the development of new products, processes and systems using a holistic approach by following a design process and/or a systematic development process
  • work in multidisciplinary teams and collaborate in teams with different compositions
  • orally and in writing explain and discuss information, problems, methods, design/development processes and solutions.

  • discuss insightful the general health area of interest chosen by teaching team (that is supposed to differ each year) from a: biological-, health-, clinical-, logistical, and health economic-perspective
  • critically observe and comment a clinical environment including its processes
  • lead constructive brain-storming activities
  • lead effective filtering processes in order to find the "best" need or idea among in set of candidates.

Content

We will address concept such as: design thinking; the biodesign method, a given medical area such as dermatology, or orthopaedics, for example; fundamentals of intellectual properties; and medtech regulation frameworks; health economics, ethical principles for medical treatment; innovation strategies; brain storming techniques; prototype manufacturing in silico and in vitro.

Organisation

The course is run by a teaching team.
The main part of the course is a challenge-driven project. The challenge may range from being broad societal to profound research driven. The project task is solved in a group. The course is supplemented by on-demand teaching and learning of the skills necessary for the project. The project team will have one university examiner, one or a pole of university supervisors, and one or a pole of external co-supervisors if applicable.

The organization is unique in the sense that it is a tight collaboration with a clinical specialist program called Innovation and Technology given at Sahlgrenska. Those students will have a special role in each group both being a proper member but also as a link to the hospital as an "interpreter" and "stakeholder". In addition, we will also take advantage of our close interaction with the Biodesign program at Stanford with their long-time developed strategy and philosophy, including specific exercises and processes.

Literature

The main reference literature will be:
  1. Biodesign: The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies, 2nd edition, Zenios et al, 2015.
  2. Hidden WOMBAT: How Executives Innovate Without the Waste of Money, Brains, and Time, Kinsella and Barlett, 2023.
On top of that, the teaching team will provide relevant digital literature and links when suitable.

Examination including compulsory elements

Each group will be evaluated with respect to their:
  • total need list, including its motivation
  • the final need statement, including its motivation
  • their suggested solution path, including its arguments
  • their final preliminary prototype (physical or digital)
  • their written report of the work, conclusion and suggested future path
  • their two oral final presentations, both at Sahlgrenska, for the stakeholders, and at Chalmers.
In addition, individual grades will be given in an analogous way as the bachelor thesis¿ grades are individualised.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers about disability study support.

The course syllabus contains changes

  • Changes to course rounds:
    • 2026-03-04: Examinator Examinator Torbjörn Lundh (torbjrn) added by UOL
      [Course round 1]
Ideation for health tech | Chalmers