Now showing: 296 short films about medtech innovationNow showing: 296 short films about medtech innovation

Being both an avid cinephile and long-time reporter covering the medical technology supply chain, I was rather excited to read about an online medtech film festival in the Scope blog published by the Stanford School of Medicine. My mind raced. Would it include a Tales from the Endoscope Crypt short directed by David Cronenberg? The classic ER episode directed by Quentin Tarantino? Of course not. It turned out to be a far more scholarly undertaking, and maybe that's for the better.

The Stanford Biodesign program has posted 296 short educational videos on medical technology innovation, a companion piece to the second edition of the Biodesign textbook. The three- to four-minute videos cover the entirety of the medtech innovation process from sourcing clinical needs and generating a concept to developing a business plan.

Biodesign hired filmmakers from within Stanford as well as from outside its hallowed halls to produce films that would "capture the essence of the Biodesign fellowship program," writes Kris Newby on the blog. Speakers include such luminaries as serial entrepreneur Mir Imran (pictured); Gary Guthart, President and CEO of Intuitive Surgical; and the Ideo design team of David and Tom Kelley.

The video library is described on Scope as "an extension of the [Biodesign] program's mission to help train the next generation of leaders in biomedical technology innovation." The program itself only accepts 12 full-time postgraduate fellows annually, but you can immerse yourself in the videos any time you like at ebiodesign.org. And unlike those fellows, you won't rack up an obscene amount of college debt in the process—the videos are free.

— Norbert Sparrow

Norbert Sparrow is Senior Editor at PlasticsToday. Follow him on twitter @norbertcsparrow and Google+.