Now in its 14th year, the MDEA competition is a prestigious, publicity-charged program that provides companies with year-round opportunities to increase the distinction of their MDEA-winning products. The program recognizes the achievements of medical product manufacturers and the many people behind the scenes—engineers, scientists, designers, and clinicians—who are responsible for the groundbreaking innovations that are changing the face of healthcare.

The MDEA competition is open worldwide to companies and individuals involved in the design, engineering, manufacture, or distribution of finished medical devices or medical packaging. Industry professionals are encouraged to review the information provided on mdeawards.com and become involved in building recognition for medical product excellence, both in their own companies and industry wide.

Accepted in ten medical product categories, entries are evaluated by a multidisciplinary panel of jurors with expertise in engineering, medicine, human factors, industrial design, manufacturing, and other design and healthcare-related fields.

Parties interested in competing in the 2011 MDEA program are encouraged to visit www.MDEAwards.com for additional details and a downloadable entry form. The early bird submission deadline for the 2011 MDEA competition is November 15, 2010. The standard deadline is December 10, 2010 and the final deadline is January 14, 2011. Winning products will be announced in April 2011, and honored with gold and silver awards at a ceremony during the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East Conference and Exposition, June 7-9, 2011, in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

MDEA awards have been given to nearly 400 groundbreaking products, including the AccuVein AV300 portable; non-contact vein illumination device; Portex UniPerc percutaneous tracheostomy kits; PaX-Reve3D panoramic; cephalometric; and computerized tomography system; Vibringe sonic irrigation system; Cimzia Packaging; Alice PDx recording device; HyGreen intelligent hand hygiene system; Littmann electronic stethoscope Model 3200 with Zargis Cardioscan heart sound analysis software; Morphix suture anchor; PREVI Isola high-throughput specimen and agar plate management system; Vitala Continence Control Device (CCD); DynaTRIM trans-rectal interventional MRI with DynaCAD digital imaging workstation for prostate; Vanguard breast imaging and interventional coil for Siemens MAGNETOM; ESSENZA MRI scanner; M320 AlterG anti-gravity treadmill; Ajust adjustable single-incision sling; RIO robotic arm interactive orthopedic system; and the SERENGETI Minimally Invasive Retractor System.

The MDEA program is endorsed by the ACCE Healthcare Technology Foundation; AdvaMed; American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering; Human Factors and Ergonomics Society; Medical Device Manufacturers Association; and National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.

For more information on the Medical Design Excellence Awards, visit www.MDEAwards.com, e-mail mdea@cancom.com, or call 310/445-4200.