Texas Medical Center Innovation
TMC Innovation Wiki
Texas Medical Center Innovation is an Institute based in Houston that aims to become a premier life science commercialization cluster. By utilizing the surrounding medical center, the institute is making efforts to close the gap between research and commercialization.
The TMC Innovation Institute includes wet lab research areas and office space in the Texas Medical Center. In this space they offer an incubator, an accelerator program, co-working space, educational sessions, and networking events. They boast access to experts housed in the medical center as well a window into 7.2 Million patient visits per year at 21 hospitals. Through their sessions and connections they look to provide knowledge on FDA regulation, intellectual property, business modeling, and financing for life science startups.
The four core parts of the institution are the TMC|X, the TMC|X+, TMC Biodesign, and JLabs. All of which are also hosted in the same building.
TMC|X
The TMC|X is an accelerator focused on early stage digital health and medical device companies. It first opened October of 2014 as a core component of the Texas Medical Center’s Innovation Institute. In March of 2015, the TMC|X announced its first cohort of 22 fledgling companies, all very health focused.
The TMC|X publicizes that, for its health based startups, it uniquely facilitates access to the nearby health professionals as well as 7.2 million yearly patients of the massive sounding medical center. Enrolling in the TMC|X does not require membership fees or equity.
http://www.tmcinnovation.org/tmc-x/
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/texas-medical-center-opens-tmcx-278693481.html
Acceleration program
The TMC|X program is four-months-long, in-house and prides itself on it’s ability facilitate network connections for its founders, which is why it’s required to have at least one founder present in Houston for the program’s duration.
Curriculum
The Curriculum begins with two intensive weeks of workshops, presentations and events aimed at solidifying a company’s value proposition, market fit and target customer base. After the two weeks, sessions become less frequent but are targeted at guiding founders in the following areas: IP, Product Development, Regulatory Strategies, Health Policy, Marketing, Fundraising and Contract Negotiations, and Communication.
Throughout the program, the TMC|X also provides opportunities to connect with a spectrum of advisors as well as holding office hours where the directing team will meet directly with the companies to offer advice, criticism and identify fruitful connections.
To make sure that each company links with their target audience in the Medical realm, the teams will participate in Pitch Practice sessions as well as large audience events like Launch Day, Advisor Pitch Event, TMC Expert Forum and Demo Day. Demo Day is the culmination of the program in a showcase in front of 400 members of the innovation community.
Follow this link for a short description of the 22 companies of the first cohort: http://www.xconomy.com/texas/2015/03/09/22-startups-join-first-class-of-texas-medical-centers-tmcx-accelerator/
Facilities
The TMC|X is a new facility with a large co-working space built in what used to be a Nabisco factory. Utilizing a stage as well as a large span of desks, whiteboards and classrooms, the facility is very open. This openness was established to promote the spontaneous as well as orchestrated connections that the TMC|X prides itself on.
Application
To apply to the TMC|X, a company needs to meet the following criteria: • passionate about the future of healthcare technology • two or more people on your team • have some early beta users or pilot studies • can demonstrate other initial traction within the digital health space • have secured seed funding or have some recurring revenue • A Texas Medical Center (TMC) affiliation or current Houston residency is not required, but each team must have a full-time founder present for the duration of the program.
TMC|X+
Adjacent to the TMC|X, the TMC|X+ is a space with offices, conference rooms and wi-fi. It serves as a subsidized office space, so new companies can optimize their resources.
TMC Biodesign
Biodesign is a one year innovation fellowship for people with backgrounds in engineering, medicine, business, computer science, design, and research to create new digital health solutions and new devices for healthcare. Fellows participate in immersive shadowing to gain perspective and experience and then receive support from resources in the Texas Medical Center to pursue their solutions. These fellows have access to prototyping tools within the TMC facilities.
There are two tracks for the fellowship: Digital Health and Healthcare Devices. Both follow a three part curriculum of Identify, Invent, and Implement. Identify is where fellows will shadow healthcare professionals in order to find unmet needs. Invent and Implement are the fellows creating the solution under mentorship and then essentially create a business plan to actualize their technology in the industry.
JLabs @ TMC|X
JLabs @ TMC|X represents a partnership between the TMC and Johnson and Johnson to further life science startups by providing wet labs and office spaces to promising life science entrepreneurs. JLabs is looking for its first cohort in 2016 of fifty life science startups to populate a 30 thousand square foot incubator built over the past year.
Contact
General Inquiries (713) 791-8800 TMCinnovation@tmc.edu
Media Inquiries (713) 791-0100 TMCmedia@tmc.edu
Address: 2450 Holcombe Blvd. Suite X Houston, TX 77021
Contact TMC|X (713) 791-8855 TMCx@tmc.edu
https://www.linkedin.com/company/texas-medical-center-accelerator
https://twitter.com/TMCxAccelerator
Contact TMC|X+ (713) 791-8866 TMCxplus@tmc.edu
Contact Biodesign (713) 791-8855 TMCbiodesign@tmc.edu
Contact JLabs Erika Kula: (408) 206-6975 ekula@its.jnj.com
