How can we redesign medical consumables to make healthcare more circular? That question was central during the final presentations of students within their course “Product Futures”, in which innovative concepts were presented for real-life ESCH-R case studies. Location: Department of Industrial Design Engineering of the TU Delft.
Working on challenges from Erasmus MC, UMC Utrecht and LUMC, industrial design engineering master students developed circular design concepts for a range of medical products, including ophthalmic surgical instruments, obstetric fetal blood sampling kit and surgical trocars. Throughout their projects, they researched how medical consumables can be redesigned to minimise material use and extend product lifetime to reduce hospital waste, while maintaining safety and improving their functionality.
During the presentations, the students showcased prototypes, design concepts and research posters, demonstrating how circular design principles can contribute to the future of sustainable healthcare. Their work illustrates employing Research through Design to develop healthcare innovations. Further the value of combining design engineering and clinical expertise to develop practical solutions for the transition towards circular hospitals.
These projects form part of ESCH-R’s broader mission to accelerate the adoption of circular interventions in hospitals. By collaborating with students, researchers, healthcare professionals and industry partners, ESCH-R continues to generate new ideas that can help reduce the environmental footprint of healthcare.
We would like to thank all students, supervisors Cecile Cuijpers, JC Diehl, Ayşegül Özçelik, Jan Tsai and Jasper Klasen and partners for their enthusiasm, creativity and commitment. Together, we are creating circular hospitals.
Jens Peeters, Victor Dymanus, Salomé Tiemersma, Nouk van Dingstee, Florien de Graaff, Hannah van Megen, Koen Kamstra, Luca van Beek, Roel Busschers, Veerle de Bruijn, Mathilde de Ruiter, Mare de Jongh, Puk Rous, Ines Sanguessuga Ascensão, Xuchen Liu, Matteo Casiddu, Yash Deshmukh, Jingyi Miao, Polina Kulakova, Nelly Bengtsson, Sofie van Engelen.
