Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine's health-tech accelerator went from being an experiment that paired theories from startups with expertise from clinicians to getting health-tech startups awarded more than $50 million.
The accelerator, dubbed Penn Health-Tech, was launched five years ago and aimed to connect innovators across the university system to facilitate innovation in medical devices and healthcare technology, according to an Aug. 25 news blog from Penn Medicine.
Since its launch, the accelerator has supported 60 different teams and provided $2 million in funding, hands-on project management and development expertise. Alumni of the program have also secured $50 million in follow-on funding from government grants to corporate investments.
Katie Reuther, PhD, executive director of Penn Health-Tech, said on the blog that the program is now focusing on "how we can optimize and scale Penn Health-Tech to realize the Penn community's full potential for health technology innovation."
Dr. Reuther said the program will begin formalizing training opportunities for early-career innovators and cultivating industry and commercial partnerships.
"We want to ensure that when a clinician, staff member, or engineer has an idea or napkin sketch for a solution, they come to us and we help them bring their idea to life," Dr. Reuther said.