The National Institutes of Health said today that it awarded $20 million to fund five medtech hubs to speed the translation of biomedical developments into commercially viable products.
The new centers join the Research Evaluation & Commercialization Hubs, which aim to expand a national network of proof-of-concept centers that links 34 academic institutions, according to an NIH release.
Each of the hubs also secured non-federal matching funds and established partnerships with regional life science and economic development organizations.
NIH said the goal of the REACH program is to enable academic innovators to advance promising technologies from academic institutions to small businesses with resources provided from federal and private-sector partners.
The hubs that will join the REACH program are the Kentucky Network for Innovation & Commercialization, the Rutgers Optimizes Innovation ROI Program (New Jersey), the Midwest Biomedical Accelerator Consortium (Missouri), the Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation & Commercialization Hub.
“These awards increase engagement with private sector technology development experts and investors,” NIH deputy director of extramural research Jodi Black said in prepared remarks. “They also build entrepreneurial research and development capacity to improve and accelerate the transfer of biomedical technologies from the lab to the market, which is critical for turning NIH discoveries into health.”
“In the end, the public benefits from the stream of innovative health products from NIH discoveries enabled by this program,” added NIH director of the office of biomedical entrepreneurship and innovation Matthew McMahon.
