From August 24 to 28, 2026, the IHU Strasbourg hosted the 15th edition of B.E.S.T. Innovation Week (Business Engineering and Surgical Technologies). During five days of intensive immersion, 22 participants from 14 countries pooled their expertise to design the medical devices of the future.
A Targeted Clinical Challenge: « Closing defects with flexible tools »
This year, the challenge focused on interventional gastrointestinal endoscopy, with one major goal: to devise innovative solutions for closing gastrointestinal perforations using flexible instruments.
True to the concept pioneered by Professor Silvana Perretta, this class brought together a highly diverse group of participants: 11 clinicians, 6 engineers, and 5 specialists in innovation management, from Bahrain, Brazil, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Taiwan.
Cutting-edge coaching and industry engagement
Divided into four teams, the participants received guidance from five dedicated coaches: Perla Moreno, Evelyn Almanzar, Piera Melatti, Raphael Stier and Michela Orsi. They also benefited from the expertise of an international faculty that included Silvana Perretta, Dennis McWilliams, Stefano Stramigioli, Elliot Street, Lee Swanström, John O’Dea, Bruno Mutet, Juan Verde, Mariel Bolhouse, Ashley Seehusen, Nanda Van der Stap, Maria Vannucci and Alain Garcia.
The hands-on workshops at the IHU’s experimental platform were made possible thanks to the support of numerous private and public partners: Boston Scientific, EndoTools, Intuitive Surgical, ERBE Medical, Inovus, Karl Storz, Taurus Endoscopy, Scialytics, Pentax Medical, HypnoVR, IRIS-ICube team and Crédit Mutuel Saint-Jean.
Art and gratitude at the heart of innovation: combining surgical skill, technological precision, and human sensitivity
This week also featured a new collaboration with Strasbourg-based visual artist Laure Krug. Drawing on an approach inspired by the resilience of flora and fauna in the face of this summer’s wildfires, participants and coaches worked together to create prints using recycled food packaging. This simple eco-engraving technique made it possible to print unique cards, embellished with messages of gratitude, which were presented to all the instructors and contributors to the course.
The originality of the solutions proposed by the teams in this 15th edition confirmed the relevance of the B.E.S.T. model: identifying real clinical needs to develop therapeutic innovations.
