UBORA is an e-Platform for the open source co-designing of new solutions to face current and future global healthcare challenges. UBORA is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and it is developed jointly by European and African Universities in collaboration with national and international policy makers.
UBORA (excellence in Swahili) is an open source platform which aims at fostering the co-design of medical solutions to address current health challenges while following open source principles. The open source platform brings together five European and two African universities. UBORA seeks to exploit the network and knowledge of these institutions’ technological hubs and to combine them with the advantages of an open source approach to rapidly prototype new ideas, limit development costs and increase safety. Additionally, a committee of nine experts, the Innovation and Sustainability Management Committee (ISMC), is responsible for ensuring that the creative process is adequately set up and aligned with the principles of open source software. The UBORA approach is supported by quality and safety guidelines for biomedical devices built on the foundation of the European Medical Device Regulation 2017/745. Besides promoting the design of open source medical solutions, the documentation for the UBORA platform is available on GitHub.
The UBORA platform assists in the first stages of the life cycle of medical devices: the conception and development stages. The platform provides a structured framework for identifying clinical needs, risk class and relevant standards, managing computer-aided modelling files, and preparing the pre-production device dossier. Each stage is vetted and controlled by experts to ensure that safety criteria are met during the design process. The infrastructure of the platform is divided into three main sections:
- Clinical needs: to identify bioengineered solutions related to specific clinical needs. In order to create safe and effective medical solutions, this section provides an environment for discussions between patients, healthcare providers and engineers to ensure that needs are transformed into projects.
- Project management: to guide the design process to help researchers design standards-oriented medical devices, with specific features to identify the risk class and relevant applicable standards. This section also includes a repository for file sharing and ends with a section to prepare the project for fundraising.
- Resource section: to provide selected learning materials on biomedical engineering.
Another key aspect is the UBORA community of developers, which includes engineers and healthcare professionals, aimed at designing innovative open source solutions to ensure greater access to medical devices. The community is engaged through several initiatives such as conferences, annual design competitions, and an annual design school. The 2020 edition of the Design Competition had a special focus on medical devices for COVID-19 with the aim of “providing an integral management for present pandemic and for eventual future outbreaks”. On the 23rd of June, the four winning projects were announced by UBORA. This year’s edition of the Design Competition brought together over 100 developers.
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