Seven groups of students worked with UW-Oeau Claire faculty and Mayo Clinic Health System leaders during the 2024-25 academic year on healthcare issues, including product development, process improvement and integration of artificial intelligence.
Resources provided through Wisconsin Economic Development Co., Ltd. have enabled workforce innovation grants. Students were able to experience the prototype development process, from understanding the customer experience to ideas and prototyping, says Dr. Michael Carney, interim provost and academic affairs deputy prime minister.
“Equally important, the team was able to take seven clinical ideas and would otherwise be idle — and then they were able to take the first step towards generating intellectual property and turning ideas into reality,” says Carney.
The Innovation Health Challenge is an outstanding example of the power of collaboration between UW-Oeau Claire and Mayo Clinic Health System, says Dr. Carmen Manning is dean of the Health and Human Sciences College of Human Sciences and a co-investigator for the WEDC grant.
“We brought together faculty members and student clinicians and staff from the Mayo Clinic Health System, UW-Oeau Claire. The results were extraordinary,” Manning said. “Each participant in this collaboration learned and grew up in the process.”
Dr. Ron Thacker, Entrepreneur Education Program Program Coordinator at Mayo Clinic Health System-eau Claire, was impressed by how Blugolds rose to the challenges presented to the innovation team.
“Their creativity, dedication and problem-solving skills really sparkled and produced some outstanding results,” says Soccer. “They gave a lot of effort and thought and it was exciting to see them throughout the process.”
This assignment taught Burlington's first year student and biomedical innovator scholar Ian Nee to balanced his research with another research project and cherish his time.
“We were honored that doctors and administrators cared about what we had to say and value our perspective on specific issues in the healthcare field,” said Nie, a major in biochemistry/molecular biology and a minor in computer science. “It was a great experience and while it was a bit stressful at times, it really made me feel rewarding and impactful on my future.”
Below is a sample of the project:
