This innovative product was perfected and a patent application submitted in October 2003 on the basis of the results of an initial market survey. The concept was finalised, the technical feasibility checked (with assistance of CRIF), and some prototypes were developed (early 2004). The first presentations to high-level medical hospital staff were carried out. The latter were very enthusiastic about the product and many asked to be included in the practical validation tests to be held both in Belgium and elsewhere. The holders of the European patent application created the Belgian company "WELLCARE PRODUCTS sa" in mid-2004 with the aim of promoting the MORPHO™ concept up to licensing. Following the positive outcome of the search for existing patents conducted by the European Patent Office and in the light of the experiences gleaned by the team in terms of drafting the necessary hospital test records, the three patent holders submitted an international PCT application in October 2004. The official search for existing patents with respect to the PCT application was finalised end February 2005 and all of the claims have been deemed fully acceptable as innovative. Contact with selected teams of users working with each individual application since the start of 2005 has enabled us to draw up initial specifications for the main essential articles. Due the originality and potential of this project WELLCARE PRODUCTS sa has been able to create a network of high-level contacts in different disciplines to the benefit of MORPHO™. This is why the innovation, apparently simple, joines the most advanced technologies and internationally recognised scientific teams. The first tests on humans where done at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège in the unit “ Bone & Cartilage Research unit, Institute of Pathology” under supervision of Prof. Yves Henrotin.
We have designed and developed pre-prototypes for presentations and analysis of constraints.
pre
At winter 2006 manual production of the thermal units switched to a pre-industrial pilot production phase using specialist equipment designed for the manufacture of pre-series test items that meet with needs pinpointed by key user groups.
Efforts continued in research & development and technological monitoring across the board with a view to optimising the MORPHO™ designing and the cost price.
In parallel, we have begun to contact potential partners, both on the industrial side and with the aim of marketing and selling our products worldwide.
