Emory Healthcare recently announced the upcoming September 1 launch of the Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub, created to identify and solve consumer-centric problems in the health care industry.
Scott Boden, VP for business innovation in Emory Healthcare, says this new program differs from most existing innovation models and accelerator programs, which focus on "finding technologies and then matching them with problems." Emory's hub takes the opposite approach, "focusing on identifying consumer and clinical unmet needs and then matching them with investable solutions." Its goal is to maximize technology to improve outcomes while minimizing costs.
The hub will engage expertise from across the university, especially in medicine, business, law, nursing, and public health, providing opportunity for "interested Emory faculty, staff, and students to take an active role in accelerating health care innovation using digital IT solutions," says Boden.
The hub also will partner with outside organizations. For example, Emory Healthcare is partnering with Innovation Hub Enterprises, a local research, design, and innovation strategy firm to oversee the direction and operation of the hub and the associated venture fund that will help in commercialization of innovative ideas.
EHC is also partnering with Sharecare to serve as the hub's lead digital health sponsor. Over the coming months, other strategic partners will be invited to join the hub, representing all aspects of the health care continuum, including cloud-based computing, artificial intelligence, wearable devices, the insurance industry, large self-insured employers, and government agencies.
"The hub will incubate solutions that use the core services of our partners and create new revenue-generating and scalable opportunities for those involved," says Boden.
Boden is overseeing formation of the hub in collaboration with leaders in the office of technology transfer, information technology, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and Goizueta. A national search for a full-time director of the hub is currently under way. In the coming months announcements will be made regarding opportunities to engage with the hub and to submit ideas for prioritization for funding. Read more. | 
