One area that you’ve probably heard discussed repeatedly at ARMI summits is the value of standards. The development of standards is a foundational framework necessary to support the innovative growth of any budding industry. Standards enable interdisciplinary groups to compare their efforts, collaborate, and build upon each other’s work in a pre-competitive manner. They provide wisdom accumulated from the combined experience of experts involved in drafting the standard, which reduces the consumption of time, costs, and other resources by subsequent product developers through the citation of issues to be aware of during the creation of the next generative of innovative products.
ARMI | BioFabUSA is currently working with a BioFabUSA member, the Standards Coordinating Body (SCB), on a huge undertaking for the entire tissue-engineering and regenerative medicine industry - evaluating and updating terminology relevant to the Tissue-Engineered Medical Product community. As many of you may have experienced, a major challenge with building a robust tissue engineering ecosystem is ensuring clear communication pathways across interdisciplinary teams. From industrial engineers to biomedical scientists and clinicians, teams need to be able to discuss problems and propose solutions openly and easily. With the multitude of complexities involved in collaborative work and the manufacture of live tissues, we can’t, as a field, let communication be a barrier to the growth of the industry.