x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

MedTech Sustainability by Design

Lucas Pianegonda

MedTech Sustainability by Design is the podcast where the world"s leading experts in medical device, sustainable plastics, eco-design, and regulatory compliance share their expertise. Each episode cuts through the complexity of plastic selection, regulatory changes, medical device engineering or sustainable plastics — so MedTech engineers and start-up teams can build devices that are good for the patient, good for the planet and profitable.Your host, Lucas Pianegonda, is a globally recognized expert

science life sciences

All Episodes

49:26

How Advisory Boards Can Help You Make Strategically...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/04/01

This episode is brought to you by Synera Advisory. Most MedTech founders treat FDA clearance like it's the finish line. Jordan Morrison has an entire bookshelf of cleared devices that can't sell to prove it isn't. She's Founding Partner at Synera Advisory, a physician-backed advisory group supporting founders from concept through commercialization. In this episode, she explains why so many MedTech startups run out of road after clearance, and what to do instead. Here's what we get into: Why F...

en

45:52

Recycling is Just an Extension of Linearity with...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/03/25

This episode is brought to you by FKuR Kunststoff GmbH, a leading producer and distributor of bio-based and compostable plastics. "Recycling is just an extension of linearity." Patrick Zimmermann posts the same sentence on LinkedIn, and it always gets a reaction: He's the Managing Director at FKuR Kunststoff GmbH, a company that's been working with bio-based and compostable plastics for decades. So when he says recycling doesn't close the loop, he's not being cynical. He's being precise...

en

46:34

How to Build a Medical Device That Actually Sells...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/03/18

If you want to make your medical devices more sustainable, let's talk—: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical Most MedTech founders build the wrong device because they skip the steps that actually matter before the engineering starts. Lisa Voronkova is CEO of OVA Solutions, an R&D shop that has developed over 200 medical devices from scratch, and author of Hardware Bible. In this episode, she breaks down exactly where founders go wrong, what the developmen...

en

44:39

How AI Can 10x Medical Device Development with Prof....

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/03/11

If you want to make your medical devices more sustainable, let's talk: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical What if you could cut the time it takes to develop a medical device in half? In this episode, I sit down with Prof. Dr. Christian Johner, founder of the Johner Institute and one of Europe's most recognized experts in medical device, regulatory affairs and software. He has spent decades helping manufacturers navigate complex regulatory hurdles, and recen...

en

53:40

Why Sustainability and Compliance Are Becoming the...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/03/05

If you're a MedTech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk—BOOK A CALL HERE: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical What if the plastic in your current medical device ends up restricted before your product reaches the end of life? Julian Lotz, CEO and Co-Founder of BIOVOX, joins the podcast to talk about where material compliance is heading and what to do about it now. His argument is straightforward: patient protection and environ...

en

41:50

The Real Cost of Medical Waste (And Why Hospitals Are...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/02/11

This episode is sponsored by Sterilis Solutions: https://sterilissolutions.com "How much is medical waste actually costing us?" is one of the questions hospitals are finally asking out loud. The problem is, most facilities don't realize they're dealing with a 10-20% annual cost increase—plus safety risks and sustainability pressure that isn't going away. In this episode, I speak with Andy Marshall, CEO of Sterilis Solutions, about how onsite sterilization changes the equation for hospitals, w...

en

59:40

How Do You Know Your Medical Device Material Will...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/01/28

"Is this material going to be biocompatible?" is one of the most commonly asked questions in medical device development. The problem is, there's no such thing as a biocompatible material. In this episode, I speak with Marina Daineko, Biocompatibility Consultant at Intrinsic Medical Group, about how biological risk assessment actually works, what mistakes companies make early in development, and how to incorporate biocompatibility thinking during prototyping without running full testing on eve...

en

53:23

Can Chemical Recycling Solve MedTech's Sustainability...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/01/21

Chemical recycling is often presented as a silver bullet. But is it actually viable for medical-grade plastics? In this episode, I speak with Reinier Grimbergen, CTO of Blue Circle Olefins, about what chemical recycling really is, how it differs from mechanical recycling, and where it actually makes sense for MedTech. This conversation is technical, practical, and grounded in industrial reality. We talk about pyrolysis vs gasification, energy trade-offs, feedstock constraints, economics, and ...

en

61:21

How to Innovate Faster in MedTech: Solving the...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2026/01/07

Why does it take so long to bring a medical device to market? And what can we actually do about it? Spencer Jones is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of XO MedTech and MedTech Vendors. In this episode, he breaks down the real problems slowing innovation in medical technology and shares practical solutions that work. This isn't about motivation. It's about the structural issues that make MedTech innovation slow, expensive, and isolating—and the systems that can fix them. Inside this episo...

en

43:22

How Do You Choose The Right Sterilization Method For...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/12/31

If you are building or scaling a medical device, sterilization problems will catch up with you. Usually later in the process than you want. In this episode, I speak with Manuel Grandy, Consultant and Managing Partner at SteriComp GmbH, about what sterilization actually means in practice and why so many teams underestimate it until regulators start asking uncomfortable questions. We talk about ETO gas, gamma radiation, and why there is no universally “correct” sterilization method. The right c...

en

43:30

Is Sustainability Actually Strategic? with Casper...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/12/24

Many companies say sustainability matters, but only a few treat it as part of their strategy. One of them is Ambu, a global MedTech company and the market leader in single-use endoscopy. In this episode, Casper Venbjerg Hansen, Senior Director, Sustainability, Public Affairs, Risk and Compliance at Ambu A/S, explains how sustainability guides their decisions and why Ambu committed to it early. Casper walks through Ambu’s long history with sustainability, including why they redesigned their en...

en

46:51

Understanding LCAs: The Hidden Factors That Shape...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/12/17

Many organizations rely on LCAs (Life Cycle Assessments) to guide sustainability decisions, but the method is only as reliable as the data and assumptions used to build it. In this episode, Thomas Kägi, Member of the Board at Carbotech AG, explains how to structure an LCA so that the results reflect real environmental impact and not just guesses or incomplete boundaries. Thomas describes how the functional unit sets the entire frame for an analysis, why the use phase can overshadow production...

en

46:36

Why Hospitals Say No: The Harsh Truth About MedTech...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/12/10

Hospitals review new devices through a process that is far more complex than most teams expect. In this episode, commercialization specialist Jim Surek explains how he evaluates medical technologies and the three-part funnel he uses to predict whether a product will find traction. Jim describes how clinical performance, economic outcomes, and strategic or operational effects shape hospital decisions and why progress in only one area is not enough. In this conversation, we cover: Why clinical ...

en

44:44

What If Engineers Could Innovate Instead of Wasting...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/12/03

Every MedTech company wants to innovate faster, but most are slowed down by one thing they barely realize is consuming half their development time: technical documentation. In this episode, Karl J. Larsson, co-founder of Aligned, explains how Word- and Excel-based documentation structures create massive inefficiencies, audit delays, and innovation bottlenecks, and how a lean, software-driven approach transforms both speed and confidence. In this conversation, Karl and Lucas discuss: Why up to...

en

41:51

Is the Packaging of Implants the Next Big...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/11/26

Marcel Kunz, Head of Packaging at Straumann Group, has spent his career making dental implant packaging safe, sterile, and sustainable. In this episode, he joins Lucas Pianegonda to share Straumann’s six “Golden Rules” for designing medical packaging that balances compliance with circularity — plus the story behind his toothbrush project that turned blister waste into a useful consumer product. They cover: The real cost of sterile barrier systems in MedTech Why Straumann won’t wait ...

en

43:28

Building the First Bio-Based Breathing Circuit with...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/11/17

When Thomas Willemsen became CEO of GaleMed Group, he saw an opportunity to redefine medical consumables for a sustainable future. In partnership with Gradical, his team created the BioVent-Circuit — the world’s first anesthesia and ventilation circuit made from sugarcane-based bioplastic. In this conversation, Thomas and Lucas Pianegonda discuss: • How GaleMed turned a concept into a validated, high-performing product • Why sustainability is a strategic advantage, not a cost burd...

en

39:55

Redesigning a Single-Use Medical Device to SLASH...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/11/12

Industrial design engineer Pablo Yániz González set out to make a single-use inflator more sustainable and ended up designing a hybrid device that can be reused up to 1,000 times. In this episode, Pablo joins Lucas Pianegonda to discuss how hospitals can reduce waste without adding burden for clinicians, what “hybrid-use” design really means, and how to navigate the long, expensive road from prototype to regulatory approval. They cover: The tradeoffs between reuse and remanufacturing in hospi...

en

47:38

How “Hybrid-Use” Medical Devices Can Cut Waste AND...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/11/05

Dr. Axel Boese has spent years studying how hospitals can innovate sustainably — and one of his biggest insights challenges the status quo of “single-use.” In most hospitals, medical tools are used once and then thrown away. For something like a cheap plastic syringe, that makes sense. But with a €600 stapler or a €1,300 catheter, the practice becomes both unsustainable and financially wasteful. That’s where hybrid-use comes in. Instead of discarding the entire device, hospitals can reu...

en

41:17

Arne Jaksch - Toxicological Risk Assessment

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/10/22

Arne Jaksch is an expert in toxicology and managing director of his own company Jaksch Life Science Consulting. He supports medical technology, pharmaceutical and chemical companies in the biological and toxicological evaluation of their products. In our discussion we dive deep on how a toxicological risk assessment is performed and what difficulties companies usually face when doing these. This episode was sponsored by Jaksch LifeScience Consulting GmbH - JAKSCH LIFESCIENCE CONSULTING...

en

44:50

Maximilian Hofmann - Challenges in MedTech...

MedTech Sustainability by Design ·

2025/10/15

Maximilian Hofmann is Sustainability Manager at Raumedic a leading component supplier, CDMO and medical device manufacturer for some of its products. In the 4 years at Raumedic he established sustainability management systems, ISCC-PLUS certifications for two sites and introduced eco-design into Raumedics development process. Despite all the efforts sustainable products are struggling to take off, in this podcast we want to explore the current challenges of sustainable product development in ...

en

39 results

Similar Podcasts

Classic Radio Science Fiction

solgoodmedia.com

Mission to Mars

Inception Point Ai

The 365 Days of Astronomy

365DaysOfAstronomy.org

Creek Devil

william Jevning

UFO Chronicles Podcast

Nik Hunter