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Innovation Center

Innovation is the key to all advancements in modern medicine. We define “innovation” as the process of implementing new ideas to create value for an organization. This may mean creating a new service, product or process, or enhancing existing ones. The Innovation Center was created to foster new biotech ideas into real world products/businesses by recruiting ideas from physicians, nurses and researchers within our system and across the globe. Our process begins with innovative ideas and research drawn from our teammates and collaborators. Promising technologies are then selected for further development to be transformed into everyday solutions that improve patient care.

young girl looking through microscope

Areas of focus

The Innovation Center focus areas include:

  • Commercialization of new devices or methods created by employees/collaborators/peers
  • Serving as an entry portal for small startups to access and navigate the broader healthcare system
  • Consulting with departments in the organization to help discover new approaches to solving difficult problems
  • Creating a culture of innovation across the whole organization

Our projects come to us through four channels:

  • Ideas submitted by Roper St. Francis Healthcare doctors, nurses and teammates
  • Innovation Center outreach –  connect with Roper St. Francis Healthcare doctors, nurses and teammates
  • Ideas submitted by collaborators/partners
  • Collaboration on mature projects with external sources

As part of our outreach program, our center’s Idea Extractor meets regularly with Roper St. Francis Healthcare medical professionals to discuss and identify needs they glean from working with patients. Our goal is to give doctors and staff tools to help them become creators of new technology as well as users of it. The Innovation Center also evaluates ideas and promising research that could be turned into viable businesses, including seeking seed funds to cover prototypes and other start-up expenses.

Submit an Idea

Our Process

Idea Submission
1. You Submit Your Idea

Complete an Idea Submission form and submit it to the Innovation Center electronically. It’s okay if your concept is not fully

 

developed. Submit as much information as you can and we’ll offer feedback.

It is always a good idea to talk with us about evaluating your idea before sharing it with others, including at conferences or seminars. In many cases, public disclosure may undermine the ability to get a patent.

Submit your idea

Preliminary Evaluation
2. Preliminary Evaluation

After you submit your idea, our team will review the submission and determine if it fits with the capability of the Innovation Center.

 

If the idea is a potential fit, then our team will contact you about completing an invention disclosure, and will schedule a meeting to discuss the idea in more detail. Typical timing occurs within 30 days.

Additional Information
3. Additional Information

At our first meeting, we will discuss your idea and work with you to clarify or complete any portions of the invention disclosure you need

 

help with.

Often, we will request additional information to facilitate our review.

Detailed Evaluation
4. Detailed Evaluation

Your invention will be assessed for commercial viability. The Innovation Center staff will evaluate your invention from the

 

perspective of its technology, product and market opportunity, patentability, regulatory path, competition and research direction.

Inventions that have clinical and technical merit are evaluated by our team. In some cases we may consult with qualified professionals to assist in our assessment.

We Contact You
5. We Contact You 

If the idea is selected for further development, the team will contact you to discuss financial and legal terms for potential collaboration

 

with you.

In many cases this will involve development and execution of a plan for the commercialization of the invention. We may utilize strategic partnerships to generate interest and gather relevant feedback from potential licensees.

Discussion
6. Discussion

As the development plan evolves, we will evaluate the capacity to implement the plan before proceeding. If we determine at any

 

point that the Center is not a suitable collaboration partner to implement the plan, we’ll share our findings with you so that you can pursue alternative pathways.

Agreement
7. Agreement

If your project is selected, we will work with you to reach a specific agreement on a proposed collaboration and execute the

 

development plan.

Execution of the plan involves not only performing the steps that are defined at the beginning of our process, but also refining the details as we gain additional information.

 
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