The city of Phoenix and University of Arizona are partnering to launch a biomedical technology accelerator on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, the city announced Wednesday.
The accelerator, called InnoVention, will include students from the university’s medical sciences, law, business and engineering programs. The goal is for students of multiple disciplines to have a dedicated space to collaborate and turn biomedical ideas into reality through the creation of new devices, businesses or health policies.
InnoVention is a partnership between the city of Phoenix and the university’s College of Medicine Phoenix, College of Engineering, Eller College of Management and McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship.
“While Phoenix and Arizona are rich in business incubators and accelerators, even across the nation there are few programs designed specifically to accelerate health care and life sciences,” Fredric Zenhausern, co-developer of InnoVention and UA medicine professor, said in a statement. “This is an environment created specifically to get an idea to market as rapidly as possible. Unlike an incubator, which generally helps launch a business, InnoVention takes ideas and turns them to marketable products for the founders.”
The facility will include research laboratories, fabrication equipment and business consulting services. The university’s Center for Applied Nanobioscience and Medicine also includes other tools, such as a 3D printer and application development systems, students can use to develop prototype ideas.
“We are grateful for the support from the City of Phoenix for the InnoVention incubator,” Guy Reed, dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, said in a statement. “This will advance the mission of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, to translate scientific discoveries into new products, devices and algorithms which can improve the health of Arizonans as well as to develop Phoenix into a center for biomedical innovation to advance our economy.”
The Phoenix City Council unanimously approved $35,000 in seed money during Wednesday’s meeting to offer a two semester InnoVention and Entrepreneurship in Medicine course to an initial cohort of about 12 students. The city said the program could continue to be expanded in the future with foundation grants.
“Phoenix is proud to invest in the biosciences and innovation—they support high-paying jobs that continue to grow in Phoenix. But this investment is so much more,” said Mayor Greg Stanton in a statement. “With this exciting partnership, the best and brightest across industries will work side-by-side as breakthroughs are happening, accelerating the process of turning ideas into reality to improve health and save lives.”
RELATED: ASU partners with Wexford for Phoenix Biomedical Campus expansion
The announcement follows a trend of future science growth downtown. In addition to this expansion of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, Arizona State University is also developing an expansion north of Fillmore. ASU has partnered with Wexford Science and Technology for the first phase, which is set open in 2019.
Contact the reporter at Stephanie.M.Morse@asu.edu.
