Technology incubators and accelerators are not new concepts. In 2015, we wrote about the American Medical Association’s Chicago-based AMA Interaction Studio at MATTER that provides a space for healthcare professionals to interact with entrepreneurs and developers on new products and services. That same year we wrote about the Relevant Health accelerator program in Rockville, Maryland, backed by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development. Skipping forward five years, we covered the Stanford Medicine Healthcare Innovation Lab, an incubator focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Carolina State University’s ASSIST Center and DHIT Global recently launched a virtual incubator focused on advancing wearable solutions for COVID-19, specifically those that support personal monitoring and protection at work. The ASSIST Center is an engineering research group that specializes in wearable, self-powered nanotechnologies. The incubator doesn’t have a formal name, but the organizers define it as a crowdsourcing platform.
In a news release announcing the incubator, Carolin Lehmann, the ASSIST Center’s communications and events coordinator, said the group is inviting clinicians, entrepreneurs, engineers, or anyone in the community to submit ideas, problems, or solutions. A panel of judges will screen the initial ideas and invite select parties to submit proposals. After a second judging round, the panel will announce winners. The incubator will give winners an innovation prize, help with prototyping, and free consulting. Submissions to the incubator close on July 24. You can find further information and submit an idea on the virtual incubator website.
