ATU-MET and Eyedea collaboration highlights value of shared MedTech testing
Recognition for Eyedea MedTech Education founder Damian Carr has put renewed focus on a long-running collaboration with ATU’s MET Technology Gateway, showing how access to specialist testing, imaging and engineering expertise can help MedTech teams develop and refine devices more quickly.
Damian Carr, founder of Eyedea MedTech Education, has been named MedTech Innovation Person of the Month for August 2026, with the recognition highlighting both his contribution to the Irish MedTech ecosystem and Eyedea’s close collaboration with the Medical and Engineering Technologies (MET) Technology Gateway at Atlantic Technological University.
Eyedea provides specialist education and practical training in advanced catheter design and manufacturing. Its work with MET gives the team access to specialist testing facilities and engineering expertise that would be difficult or expensive to maintain in-house, including tensile, compression and bend testing as well as advanced Cone Beam CT imaging.
MET’s published case study describes how this relationship has enabled faster investigation of device performance and failure modes. In one example, Cone Beam CT imaging helped identify an intermittent internal connection issue that would otherwise have required a much longer troubleshooting process. The collaboration has also allowed testing activity to be integrated directly into practical training, giving engineers real-time insight into how devices behave under test.
The partnership is a useful example of the role shared research infrastructure can play in MedTech development. Instead of requiring an SME or innovation team to invest in every specialist capability itself, access to an applied-research partner can shorten development cycles, improve technical decision-making and reduce the cost and risk of testing new concepts.
For NWCAM2, the relevance is particularly strong. The programme is designed to connect SMEs with academic and applied-research expertise across the North West and border region, helping companies address technical barriers in areas including advanced manufacturing, product development, testing, digital technologies and specialist engineering. The Eyedea–MET relationship demonstrates the practical value of that model in a live MedTech setting.
Original article
MET Technology Gateway — Eyedea Medtech Education case study