Incubation
We help innovators get their ideas to patients.
Whether you are a novice entrepreneur with a high-impact idea, a seasoned executive in a first CEO role, a veteran leader with a small team and big needs, or a strategic investing in the future, Fogarty Innovation delivers unparalleled support.
We offer a range of incubation and acceleration programs that create value for startup companies based on their development stage and innovators’ goals. Each of these programs provides innovators with a unique combination of the following medtech-specific resources:
Expertise
Entrepreneurs and companies in our incubator and accelerator programs are assigned dedicated staff coaches to help them navigate the complex path required to turn a concept into a company. These veteran Silicon Valley medtech executives act as part of the team, providing hands-on support, board-level expertise across functional areas, and a critical external perspective. Coaches are co-located and immediately accessible in order to serve not as occasional advisors, but as true partners in the journey of resource-limited startups.
Learn more about our hands-on approach to working with our companies-in-development, a process we call Full-Contact Coaching, as well as our signature approach to assessing and optimizing startup success, The Fogarty Physical™.
Space
Our entrepreneurs learn and thrive together within a 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility located on the campus of El Camino Health’s hospital in Silicon Valley, integrating them into one of the strongest medtech and innovation ecosystems in the world. Residency includes the use of office, meeting, educational, recreational, laboratory and other maker spaces (such as machine shop, computational modeling, 3D printing, metrology and electrical lab facilities, among others).
Education
Our unrivaled educational program gives innovators and their teams access to practical instruction from industry experts on curriculum of essential topics for startups, from fundraising and intellectual property to professional growth and leadership skills. There are also opportunities to interact with and learn from representatives of government agencies, professional associations, and other essential medtech stakeholders.
CEOs also benefit from a collaborative community of peers who share resources, experiences, an unbiased perspective, and moral support.
Access
Our staff’s broad industry experience also allows us to facilitate access to top-tier external resources, including investors, legal counsel, regulatory and quality consultants, CROs, reimbursement and health economics experts, and many other capabilities necessary to build a great idea into a great company.
Tailored programs
Fogarty Innovation offers a spectrum of incubation and acceleration programs to create value for startup companies based on their development stage and innovators’ goals. Interested entrepreneurs may apply to the appropriate program described below.
Incubation and Acceleration Programs
Company-in-Residence (CIR)
At the heart of Fogarty Innovation is the Company-in-Residence (CIR) program, an immersive experience in our living laboratory for entrepreneurs and their teams. CIRs are co-located with their assigned Fogarty mentors and other executive staff who form a readily accessible and representative C-suite disciplined in R&D, intellectual property, quality systems, clinical and regulatory affairs, operations, finance, commercial strategy, human resource management, executive coaching and team-building. The proximity and regular interactions allow Fogarty staff to become deeply familiar with resident companies, enabling us to roll up our sleeves and engage in realistic strategy creation, problem-solving and company-building. The CIR program has no predetermined length of tenure, although experience has shown that companies typically stay for 2-3 years.
Our location on the campus of El Camino Health provides CIRs with access to the clinicians, administrators and service providers at a strong community-based hospital. This allows our entrepreneurs to refine their understanding of care pathways and health care economics within a US hospital setting.
Meet some of our current Companies-in-Development and see what they have to say about what differentiates the Fogarty Innovation experience.
Interested entrepreneurs and their teams are carefully selected through a rolling admissions process.
Company Accelerator Program (CAP)
The CAP is a six-month program designed for early-stage companies usually at the Series A or Series B stage. The program leverages the expertise of our staff and networks to help these companies achieve specific objectives within their broader business plan, such as honing a go-to-market strategy or validating technical and clinical feasibility.
The aim of the CAP program is to provide structured time and guidance to help companies address their desired opportunity. Our philosophy is to begin with “the end in mind.” Knowing the overall goal enables a thorough cross-functional assessment of actions needed to achieve an objective or identify barriers to success.
Meet some of our current Companies-in-Development and see what they have to say about what differentiates the Fogarty Innovation experience.
Invention Accelerator Program (IAP)
The IAP is a partnership program in which we team with hospital or university systems to identify promising translational projects, educate inventors, and accelerate the journey to patient care. It is focused specifically on concepts that are earlier in the process than those in our Company-in-Residence or Company Accelerator Program.
During the six-month duration of the program, IAP team members work with the clinicians or researchers to develop, refine, and pressure-test their projects along several broad themes. These include value proposition, product development, intellectual property, evidence development, commercialization pathway and funding requirements, among others. The goals are a maturation of the inventor’s concept, an assessment of the drivers and obstacles to development, and exposure to a valuable network of partners and resources.
Our longest established partnership in the IAP is with the Stanford Mussallem Center for Biodesign, and is focused on high potential health technology originating at Stanford University. Stanford Biodesign’s translation team is the principal contact for all Stanford projects, including those initiated at Stanford Hospital, by Stanford academic and research faculty, and by graduates of the Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellowship. We also partner in this program with El Camino Health.
Inventors from partner institutions participate in the IAP at no fee to the inventors and without ceding ownership of IP or shares in the future company.
Meet some of our current Companies-in-Development and see what they have to say about what differentiates the Fogarty Innovation experience.
Our process includes:
Technical
coaching
- Needs validation
- Product design
- Early prototyping
- Early pre-clinical / clinical
testing - IP assessment and strategy
Our process includes
High-touch mentoring
- Market size & segmentation
- Clinical / regulatory pathway
- Reimbursement
- Business model
- Funding requirements
Strategic Accelerator Program (SAP)
The SAP is a service we offer to major corporations who can do “anything,” but not “everything.” In this bespoke arrangement, Fogarty Innovation helps large companies invest in the future by facilitating the exploration of promising ideas that fall outside current budget priorities or require extended development timelines. To pursue these endeavors, Fogarty Innovation creates a standalone company, recruits a seasoned CEO and leverages our network to obtain early-stage financing. The approach facilitates the retirement of significant technological and clinical risk and accelerates high value projects to market.