Biomedical engineering is where medicine and science converge. The Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) is now in the second year of its successful biomedical engineering certificate which will become a three-year diploma course and, thereafter, a full degree course.
At least that is the hope, says senior lecturer, Mr Sean O'Leary, organiser of this year's "Engineering of the Future" exhibition at the CIT where increasingly stronger links are being forged with cutting-edge industries.
Some years ago the Department of Education was concerned about the poor take-up by girls of engineering-related subjects. Mr O'Leary reports that now 40 per cent of the students on the certificate course are female.
The participation in the exhibition of such companies as Boston Scientific, Stryker Instruments, Johnson & Johnson and De Puy is proof of how quickly the biomedical/biomechanical industry is expanding in the Cork region, he adds.
Students are working closely with industry on research projects, such as one for Stryker Instruments which will lead to improved surgical blades.