The second Vent-Con 2020 occurred on Thursday 16 July 2:00PM PDT (10pm BST, Friday 7am SYD) !

This FREE virtual mini-con focused on Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance. We discussed how we can navigate the regulatory maze and engaged with experts. The Project Showcase featured 6 of the best open source ventilator projects from innovative teams across the world.

Vent-Con 2020 was supported by Public Invention, Helpful Engineering, Make.co

Conference Program

2:00 PM PDT, Dr. Erich Schulz, Medical Review
2:30 PM PDT, Michelle Lott, Common FDA Questions
3:00 PM PDT, Pierre Lonchampt, Risk Management
3:30 PM PDT, Adam Gosik-Wolfe and Santosh Rohit, Design Controls
4:00 PM PDT, Robert L. Read, PhD, State of Open Source Ventilation
4:30 PM PDT, Marc Jones, A Legal Perspective on Risk Management

5:00 PM PDT, Project Showcase with Panel Q&A(5 mins each)

• RespiraWorks - Edwin Chiu https://respira.works/ 
• OpenVentBristol - Darren Lewis https://openventbristol.co.uk/
• ARMEE - Warren Koch http://www.armeeventilator.com/
• Tetra - Mark Roden - https://github.com/helpfulengineering/project-tetra
• ProjectApollo - Adi Oltean https://github.com/oxycon/ProjectApollo 
• SmithVent - Astrid Landeau https://grabcad.com/smithvent-1

5:30 PM PDT Social Event! (1 hour)

Since March, communities have formed around the perceived shortfall of ventilators needed to treat COVID-19. The pandemic created mayhem and confusion which has been painstakingly cleared away. We have now learned better what is needed to treat the disease, that the ventilators need to be more sophisticated, and that the crisis may have abated but the future remains uncertain, especially in the developing world.

At Vent-Con QA, we reviewed the impressive progress, discussed the uncertain present, and forged a path forward into the future for makers, philanthropists, investors, government officials, medical professionals, and manufacturers involved in building pandemic ventilators.

Conference discussions were held in several channels at the Helpful Engineering Slack Team.