Dive Brief:
- A group of 28 hospitals of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association are planning to fund the startup company Ascend, which commercializes healthcare technology from the hospitals, the Air Force Research Lab and other potential sources.
- Ascend will partner with the University of Dayton Research Institute and Wright State Research Institute and plans to work with the Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance to attract biotech and healthcare companies from Israel.
- Start-up funding secured a multi-million dollar commitment and holds promise to bring new jobs and new companies to the Dayton area.
Dive Insight:
Ascend's business model will allow hospitals to control the technology being developed to ensure any spin-off companies stay in the Dayton area. "We are investing and betting on ourselves," said Bryan Bucklew, president and CEO of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.
Increasingly, some hospitals have begun developing and selling technology to build revenue rather than simply using it to improve their internal operations. MedStar Health's Baltimore region and the Cleveland Clinic are developing and selling new health technology to build their profitability. At MedStar's Washington offices, which house its Institute for Innovation, employees take new tech ideas and turn them into commercially salable products that they believe can be profitable.
Others, like Baystate, host innovation hubs, accruing benefit through first-mover advantage on creative developments rather than taking a stake in on-site companies.