The outer edges of the Discovery MR750w are designed to convey the feeling of being in safe hands. Courtesy of GE Healthcare

Waukesha, WI, USA – July 7, 2011

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), today announced it received several Silver Awards from the 2011 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA®) for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

Concept sketch of GE Healthcare’s Discovery MR750w. Courtesy of GE Healthcare

Considered by many as the “Oscars” of design competitions because the judging process is rigorous and judged by experts in their field, GE Healthcare won three IDEA Silver Awards - for the Discovery** MR750w 3.0T wide bore magnetic resonance imaging scanner, featuring the company’s unique caring design and insightful technology, a pediatric magnetic resonance imaging scanner concept called Nino*** and an extremity*** MRI concept.

** Not available in all regions. Pending FDA 510(k) clearance. Not available for sale in the U.S.
*** Technology in development that represents ongoing research and development efforts. These technologies are not products and may never become products. Not for sale. Not cleared or approved by the FDA for commercial availability.

The MRI chair — an award-winning advance concept by GE Healthcare’s senior designer Lionel Wodecki. Courtesy of GE Healthcare

“GE is honored to receive the 2011 IDEA awards for MRI,” said Jacques Coumans Ph.D., general manager of Premium MRI at GE Healthcare.
“At GE Healthcare MRI we realize that the most direct way to influence the perception of our products is through their design. When we asked our GE Global Design group to visualize our patient centered strategy and to help humanize radiology through an iconic design for the new generation of wide bore MRI systems, that is exactly what they did – they created a look and feel that makes patients feel at ease when they undergo an MR exam”.

Lionel Wodecki, design architect with the Global Design team at GE Healthcare, Buc, France. Courtesy of GE Healthcare

“We’re very pleased to win such a prestigious industrial design awards,” said Lionel Wodecki, design architect with the Global Design team at GE Healthcare, Buc, France.

Senior Designer Lionel Wodecki explains how the new look of GE Healthcare's new wide-bore MR came about. Courtesy of GE Healthcare / YouTube

Wodecki, who designed the two concepts and the Discovery MR750W added, “At GE Healthcare, form and function increasingly go hand in hand. And rightly so, as medical equipment has a tendency to be scary, cold and robotic, from the patient’s point of view.”

Senior Designer Lionel Wodecki explains how the new look of GE Healthcare's new wide-bore MR came about. Courtesy of GE Healthcare / YouTube

GE Healthcare’s most recent example of innovation in design is in its newest line of MR scanners - the Discovery MR750w.

Senior Designer Lionel Wodecki explains how the new look of GE Healthcare's new wide-bore MR came about. Courtesy of GE Healthcare / YouTube

Added Wodecki, “We designed the Discovery MR750w with one thing in mind: the human element. This focus created a new direction for us and should influence the next generation of our products for years to come.”

Senior Designer Lionel Wodecki explains how the new look of GE Healthcare's new wide-bore MR came about. Courtesy of GE Healthcare / YouTube

The 2011 IDEA jury, made up made up of 20 international design experts coming from design consultancies, corporations and universities, spent weeks previewing entries online and two-and-a-half days of face-to-face evaluation and debate at the Henry Ford Museum.

GE Healthcare’s award-winning Vscan handheld ultrasound device. Courtesy of GE Healthcare

Judging criteria focused on eight areas of industrial design excellence: innovation; benefit to the user; benefit to society; benefit to the client; visual appeal and appropriate aesthetics; usability, emotional factors and unmet needs for the design research category; and internal factors, methods, strategic value and implementation for the design strategy category.

A design sketch of GE Healthcare’s Vscan handheld ultrasound device. Courtesy of GE Healthc

In recent years, the Global Design team at GE Healthcare has been playing a more prominent role in the development of the company’s imaging products, not only to enhance the user’s experience, but to help put patients at ease when they are at their most vulnerable.

GE Healthcare’s Innova 3100 design, led by Lionel Wodecki. Courtesy of GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare has won 10 medals during the last three years.

The Multix - an advance-concept ultrasound examination table from GE Healthcare. Courtesy of GE Healthcare

Learn more about the Transformative Power of Industrial Design

http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com/articles/industrial-design/  


About IDEA


Started in 1980 by IDSA, the International Design Excellence Awards program (IDEA®) fosters business and public understanding about the impact of design excellence on the quality of life and the economy.

The IDEA program is considered one of the most preeminent design competitions in the nation with its scope and influence reaching far beyond U.S. boundaries.


About IDSA


Founded in 1965, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is one of the world’s oldest, largest, member-driven societies for product design, industrial design, interaction design, human factors, ergonomics, design research, design management, universal design and related design fields.

IDSA produces the renowned International Design Excellence Award® (IDEA) competition annually; hosts the International Design Conference and five regional conferences each year; and publishes Innovation, a quarterly journal on design, and designBytes, a weekly e-newsletter highlighting the latest headlines in the design world.

IDSA's charitable arm, the Design Foundation, supports the dissemination of undergraduate scholarships annually to further industrial design education.

The organization has more than 3,000 members in 27 chapters in the U.S. and internationally.

For more information, visit http://www.idsa.org  


About GE Healthcare


GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care.

Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost.

In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE).

Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at

www.gehealthcare.com  


Media Contacts:

GE Healthcare
Rebecca Hayne
Rebecca.hayne@ge.com  
414-248-1542


PRESS CONTACTS

Rebecca Hayne
GE Healthcare
414 721 3871
rebecca.hayne@ge.com  



Source: GE Healthcare

http://www.genewscenter.com/content/default.aspx?newsareaid=2  


Video
Designing GE Healthcare's Discovery MR750w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5tElXeTpCk&feature  


Video
Patient-Centred Design at GE Healthcare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SPRlbuWRB0&feature  



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