Accelerating Catheter Development: Practical Insights and Innovation Strategies
For our inaugural webinar, we had the honor of hosting Damian Carr—educator, catheter design expert, and founder of Eyedea Med Tech Education. His journey from a small Irish farm to the forefront of MedTech innovation was nothing short of inspiring. Diagnosed with tuberculosis at age 11, Damian didn’t just recover—he redirected his life toward helping others survive and thrive through technology. That sense of purpose continues to drive his mission to democratize MedTech R&D, education, and innovation.
Across startups, OEMs, and contract manufacturers, Carr has become a go-to figure for solving high-stakes development challenges. In this session, he pulled back the curtain on the real-world constraints engineers face daily—and the creative, often scrappy, methods that allow innovation to flourish in the face of them.
Access the Full Webinar Recording Below
Navigating the Realities of Catheter R&D
Carr began by addressing the elephant in the room: MedTech innovation isn’t just hard—it’s slow. From procurement red tape to internal resistance, many companies unintentionally throttle their own R&D. Engineers need speed, flexibility, and access to materials. What they often get is legacy systems and bottlenecks.
His message was clear: innovation doesn’t come from tools alone. It’s about mindset. Working from first principles, breaking down problems, and making things with your hands—even if the prototype looks ugly—is what separates the dreamers from the doers.
Carr described how, as a short-term consultant, he rarely had the luxury of 12-month timelines. Often, he had days or weeks to build functioning devices. That urgency breeds creativity. From heating up catheters with hot water kettles to reusing discarded materials, Carr’s examples showed how much innovation comes down to ingenuity over ideal conditions.
Sourcing Strategies for Rapid Catheter Prototyping
One of Carr’s standout points: even tiny sourcing problems—like ordering the wrong diameter of tubing—can delay a project by months. Traditional procurement systems aren’t set up for R&D speed. Getting one custom extrusion made might require internal approvals, supplier vetting, and minimum order quantities—all for a part you might only need twice.
His advice? Don’t wait. Source creatively, test fast, and iterate faster. Which leads to one of his central themes: innovation is often incremental. “Start by making what exists a little better,” Carr said. That might mean dissecting competitor devices to understand material selection and weak points or adjusting a design just enough to improve manufacturability or clinical usability.
Importance of Floor-Level Insights in Catheter Design
One of the most powerful insights Carr shared: the people building your product often hold the keys to better design. By spending time on the cleanroom floor and walking through builds step-by-step with technicians, he gained crucial insights into friction points and failure risks.
These conversations reshaped his designs—not just to be functional, but manufacturable at scale.
Stack Experience With Every Device You Build
“Every device you touch gives you the equivalent of 10 years’ experience,” Carr explained. And the more diverse those devices are, the better your instincts become. His advice? Work on as many different projects as you can. Say yes, get your hands dirty, and learn fast.
But building better isn’t just about experience, it’s about empathy. Carr urged engineers to think beyond specs and understand how their devices feel to patients. Watch procedures online. Read patient forums. Learn how a product sits in the body—even in uncomfortable or taboo places. That level of care leads to smarter, more thoughtful design.
Leveraging AI for Faster Catheter Innovation
Carr is also a firm believer in using AI to accelerate R&D. Tools like ChatGPT help him digest technical papers, brainstorm design ideas, and simplify complex concepts down to their first principles.
“I don’t need paragraphs,” he said. “I need bullet points. Ingredients I can build with.”
He stressed that AI doesn’t replace hard-earned experience—but it does cut down the time it takes to get started. Especially when time is your most precious resource.
Smarter Material Sourcing: Why Carr Now Loves Picking Up the Phone
Once reluctant to call suppliers, Carr now sees short supplier calls as critical time-savers. In just 30 minutes, he often gets answers that would take weeks of online searching. His advice: ask for off-spec stock, samples, or reject parts to test early ideas cheaply and fast.
He also pointed to CathCAD® for pre-prototyping shaft design and highlighted how 3D printing is now a legitimate—and often cheaper—alternative to injection molding for production runs under 10,000 units.
And sometimes, innovation is just a matter of digging through the right Excel file. “I used to go through old production bins and material logs,” he said. “You’d be amazed what you find—materials used years ago that are perfect for your current build.”
The Chamfr Advantage: From Sourcing to Strategy
Carr is a longtime fan of Chamfr, the digital sourcing platform that’s quietly transforming MedTech R&D. What once cost him $10,000-$18,000 in PCI catheter parts now costs under $2,000—with far more flexibility to try new materials.
But Chamfr isn’t just an ordering site, it’s a discovery tool. Carr described how the platform helps him:
- Find new or renamed proprietary materials
- Discover niche suppliers who prioritize R&D volumes
- Understand how to frame sourcing needs using standardized categories and visuals
- Test new ideas without waiting for approval from legacy systems
“I’ve been in this field 20 years,” Carr said. “And 30% of the suppliers I found on Chamfr were completely new to me.”
He praised Chamfr’s RFQ (Request for Quote) feature too: “No need to explain your five-year plan—suppliers know you need a few parts fast, and many respond in hours.”
Uncovering Hidden Value in Leftover Inventory
Another overlooked goldmine? Project leftovers. “I’ve opened boxes with 148 of 150 extrusions still in them,” Carr laughed. Engineers often over-order for testing—but those spare parts can be priceless later if you know how to track and repurpose them.
Carr insists this is where R&D can benefit from better documentation, inventory sharing, and even internal “swap meets” to reuse perfectly good parts and avoid reordering delays.
Real Innovation = Speed + Access + Willingness to Try
One of Chamfr’s biggest breakthroughs, Carr said, is how it enables true rapid prototyping. You can now source not just catheter parts, but cleanroom-ready accessories—guidewires, introducers, sheaths, even coiling and reflow machines—all in one place.
This kind of visibility changes the game. “If I can try something quickly and prove it works, I can change the whole project direction,” Carr said. “We’re not just accelerating innovation—we’re changing how it happens.”
Practical Prototyping Hacks for Catheter Engineers
When the right material isn’t available, Carr gets creative. Here are a few of his prototyping hacks:
- Extrusion too small? Slit it lengthwise and wrap with heat shrink to thicken.
- Too big? Cut out a 90° wedge to make it wrap tighter.
- Too thick? Reflow over a PTFE mandrel to reduce wall thickness.
- Mandrel too small? Add layers of FEP shrink or bundle smaller ones.
- Need more compression? Use a second heat shrink layer.
- Braid has too much elongation? Add a spine wire.
“These aren’t production techniques,” Carr joked. “If you send these to manufacturing, you’re evil. But they work for fast concept validation.”
Networking and Resourcefulness in Catheter R&D
In large organizations, innovation often dies at the altar of procurement. Carr’s advice? Build relationships with people who can move faster. That means:
- Befriending warehouse staff (they know what’s really available)
- Talking to tool room workers (they’ll help you fix or prototype faster)
- Getting on good terms with your R&D manager (they may have a purchasing card to bypass the approved vendor list)
“Those relationships are worth their weight in gold,” Carr said.
The Catheter Handbook: Built for Innovators, Not Gatekeepers
To cap off the session, Carr introduced his new book: The Catheter R&D Handbook. Written from a decade of hands-on R&D experience, the book is designed to be visual, approachable, and jargon-free. It’s filled with real examples, clinical insights, and pragmatic design advice.
“I wrote it so even an 11-year-old could understand it,” he said. “Because innovation shouldn’t be locked behind complexity.”
Final Thoughts on Accelerating Catheter Innovation
Damian Carr’s insights remind us that MedTech innovation isn’t just about having the best idea, it’s about removing friction, unlocking hidden value, and building with urgency and curiosity. Whether it’s leveraging AI, rethinking sourcing, or hacking your way through a prototype, the goal is the same: make better devices, faster.
In a field where months can mean lives, that’s innovation that matters.