The Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University have selected six startup companies as the inaugural cohort for their joint MedTech Accelerator program.
The accelerator, which is part of the Mayo Clinic Arizona State University Alliance for Health Care, was designed specifically for early stage medical device and healthcare technology companies looking to take their business to the next level.
One of the selected participants, GYANT, has a solution that combines messaging, artificial intelligence and medical professionals designed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that are not urgent. Another company, Hexoskin, produces a wearable shirt for in-home rehabilitation that contains embedded sensors connected to a remote patient monitoring platform. This technology behind this shirt uses AI and analytics from collected biometric data. And a third company that was selected, Life365 Inc., is a remote patient monitoring company that’s working to evaluate patient adherence to care plans in post-acute settings.
Among the other three selected companies are a wearable device product for hand and wrist therapy for sports medicine rehabilitation; a sexual health application that provides low-cost testing, information sharing and relevant wellness education; and a medical device that provides airway stability for ventilated patients to prevent unplanned extubations.
The accelerator kicks off with an immersion program April 22 to May 3 at Mayo Clinic's Arizona campus. “The inaugural cohort of the program consists of six extremely dynamic startups with product offerings we feel are poised to improve patient care and outcomes through their new innovations," said Steven Lester, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and medical director of the accelerator.
According to officials, the experience will help participants develop or optimize new products and services, license intellectual property, and sponsor research and clinical studies. Participants will look to achieve this through individually tailored development plans, a MedTech Accelerator entrepreneurship curriculum, idea mentoring and customer interactions within the healthcare ecosystem.
Participants can expect to walk away from the program with personalized business development plans to collaborate with Mayo Clinic and ASU, as well as accelerated go-to-market and investment opportunities, officials attest.
The accelerator will be completed within six to 12 months, with incentives offered to participants to stay and work in Arizona.
