The Health Technology Collaborative recently completed its charge from Business Oregon, via a grant in the High Impact Opportunity Program (HIOP). The results of the feasibility study dovetail well with the mission of the Health Technology Collaborative, which is to accelerate the growth of health technology in Oregon by providing innovators with sector-specific prototyping technology and access to a community of experts.
The $148,000 HIOP support was granted to the HTC in January, 2019, to examine the feasibility of an “Inventor Space” operating in Oregon focused on accelerating the growth of the healthcare technology sector. This sector would also include efforts currently described as “digital health and or healthcare technology.”
Following up on the Part 1 article, the HTC’s HIOP team produced key insights (from the Feb. 3 newsletter), finishing the study one year after it began. From these, they developed six specific recommendations and provided them recently to Business Oregon. These recommendations focus on the following steps and conditions necessary to create a health technology-focused ‘Inventor Space’ focused on accelerating the growth of the healthcare tech and digital health sectors:
- Establish a Health Technology Inventor Space: Recruit a deployment partner organization, which will become the catalyst for the initial funding and attract other industry stakeholders.
- InnoSource Management Platform: Develop the InnoSource resource management platform designed to streamline access to state-supported organizations and their geographically dispersed base of equipment and expertise.
- Focus on “Go-to-Market” Product Development: Proactively partner to refocus economic development strategies and resources on companies attempting to build their go-to-market product prototypes for investors or customers.
- Define the Healthcare Technology Sector: Facilitate and standardize the future economic analysis of the “Healthcare Technology” sector; develop a clear definition of the industry sector and support a single business categorization effort.
- Utilization Transparency: Develop a Protocol to link state funding to measured utilization, potentially using the InnoSource resource management platform.
- Statewide Innovation Metrics: Establish common metrics for all business development organizations in technology for tracking outcomes and impact. These metrics should track the initiative types, and transparently publish results to benefit all aspects of the technology development community.
A key finding in the feasibility study noted how healthcare technology companies can successfully ‘cross the chasm’ depends on Business Oregon’s ability to influence the existing network of incubators and resource holders to actively collaborate. Specifically, those the academic/engineering resources needed to ensure innovative ideas within the sector thrive.
Stay tuned for more updates on the HTC.