Innovating for kids locally, nationally, and internationally

In late April, Children’s National was proud to be among the partnering organizations that produced the 2018 BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) forum. The two-day event showcased the strengths of the Washington, D.C., region’s biohealth ecosystem, that ecosystem’s contributions to local economy, and discussed opportunities for further development.

On the second day of the forum, I had the pleasure of participating in a fireside chat with Todd Stottlemyer, CEO of Inova Center for Personalized Health, to discuss the role of health care systems in catalyzing health innovation, and reporter Tina Reed of Fierce Healthcare.

Hospitals and health systems commit to getting ahead of the pace of change in healthcare, but actually doing so requires dedicated centers and institutions for research and innovation and new collaborations with private and public external players. Children’s National and Inova are leading by example — we’ve both created biotech health incubators that include technology commercialization as well as accelerator programs, all to facilitate getting discoveries from the lab to the market. Our organizations are truly leveraging this dedication to innovation as a way to improve hospital operations.

Children’s National also embraces an open innovation approach. Though we heavily invest in our own research, we also recognize that to create the best solutions, we have to look outside of our own boundaries. Our annual pediatric innovation symposium, for example, includes a pediatric device pitch competition so we can scout and support the best pediatric product development ideas, no matter who came up with them.