We spoke with Jan Rosicky, co-founder and chief business development officer at Invent Medical, about how 3D printing is revolutionising orthotics and prosthetics (O&P). Rosicky discusses his story of coming into the world of medical devices after running a graphic design and marketing company for a decade and a half, and his father, a well-known mechanical engineer and lifelong CPO, who started the family business the year Rosicki was born.

Jan describes how Invent Medical began as a ‘traditional’ fabrication business in the Czech Republic following the break-up of communism in the late 1980s. The organization slowly adopted technologies such as 3D printing, then introduced a series of digital technologies. ‘We gradually started to replace some of the old tools we had with digital technologies, and this enabled us to create more sophisticated designs and more advanced manufacturing processes… It allowed us to move to smarter and more efficient approaches,’ explains Jan. The company created more breathable, custom-fit cranial orthoses for babies, which allowed for more comfort for the patients, improving compliance. For Jan, this wasn’t possible without 3D printing.

Interestingly, the discussion also touches on Invent Medical’s global business operations, and how their markets differ in terms of challenges as well as opportunities, especially in the US and Europe. Jan also shares his experience about how 3D printing has revolutionized the O & P industry by making it possible to create prototypes rapidly and on-demand, as well as customized devices that are not only effective medically, but also more visually appealing than before. He emphasizes how Invent’s product development process is collaborative, with input from clinicians around the world, to tweak, refine, improve and test their product designs before they are marketed. The last part of the interview is a forward-looking view about the future of the O & P industry, with a strong advocacy for 3D printing technologies to revolutionize patient outcomes across the globe.

This episode is brought to you by Advanced 3D.