The primary goal of the BIOMTADB project is the development of a biomaterial database and a biomaterial marketplace with digital advisors. To achieve this goal in the best possible way, the first months of the project were used to get a broad picture of the biomaterials and medical devices market, the relevant stakeholders, as well as already existing tools and knowledge resources. Furthermore, the project completed the first round of stakeholder surveys to collect user requirements for the BIOMATDB solutions.

The development of the biomaterial database and the biomaterial marketplace are at the heart of the BIOMATDB project. During the first months of the project, the consortium initiated the collection and mapping of relevant stakeholders, companies, institutions, projects, and other entities in the area of biomaterials. Additionally, already existing tools were identified to ensure that the BIOMATDB solutions can add greatest possible value to the biomaterials and medical devices market. These collections were important groundwork for further tasks, such as the stakeholder survey and the development of the biomaterials database and marketplace. The collection resulted in a detailed summary of relevant books, scientific publications and tools, which served as inputs for the conceptualisation of the front- and backend of the marketplace and database. MINDS & SPARKS was able to exploit the information gained through the extensive stakeholder collection and mapping of the biomaterials landscape to tailor the communication and dissemination activities more precisely to the stakeholders.

Through the knowledge collection, the consortium was able to identify that the following stakeholder groups are most relevant for the BIOMATDB project:

• Researchers: This group includes individuals within academia, research institutions, and scientific communities working in areas such as biomaterials, tissue engineering, or biomedical engineering. These stakeholders are potential end users of the project’s solutions, especially the biomaterials database, which will be a highly valuable tool for future research.
• Suppliers: This stakeholder group comprises suppliers of biomaterials or biomaterial-based medical devices, with a focus on SMEs and startups. The biomaterials industry will benefit from the developed biomaterial marketplace as it will facilitate market access and allow suppliers to provide detailed information on their products.
• Demanders: The BIOMATDB consortium considers medical and hospital organisations, health professionals and medical procurers as demanders of biomaterial-based products. This group can greatly benefit from the BIOMATDB solutions as an information source to facilitate informed decisions in the purchase of biomaterials or biomaterial-based medical devices. This will be especially supported through the digital advisors that will be implemented on the biomaterials marketplace.
• Policy makers & investors: This group includes individuals working in policy making, governmental/public bodies or investment in the area of biomaterials or related fields. Policy makers and investors are highly relevant for fostering the harmonisation of and shaping the biomaterials’ domain as part of the European healthcare system.
• Enablers: Societies, associations, networks or foundations in the context of biomaterials are important to the BIOMATDB project as they can facilitate valuable connections to all other stakeholder groups and thereby ensure better exploitation of the developed solutions.

Getting to know our stakeholders and their needs

The inputs from all identified stakeholders are crucial for the development of the biomaterials database and marketplace as well as for the label of biocompatibility. The consortium is continuously looking for individuals working in the field of biomaterials or medical devices who are willing to share their expertise in the form of surveys or interviews. For the first iteration of the surveys and interviews, the questions were specifically adapted to the respective stakeholder groups to make them particularly informative. Additionally, great effort was placed on making the surveys as easily accessible as possible by providing a direct link to the respective survey for each stakeholder group on the project website (see Figure 1).

The extensive knowledge and stakeholder collection as well as the communication and dissemination activities, led by MINDS & SPARKS, laid the foundation for the successful distribution of the surveys. These actvities allowed targeting a large number of stakeholders through posts on the project website, the social media channels, the newsletter, and via email. Through the combined efforts of all consortium members, the first iteration of the surveys was successfully completed in the beginning of 2023 and was able to demonstrate a high participation rate, especially among researchers.