The third round of Western Health’s Innovation Acceleration Program will be launched July/August this year. The program is a joint initiative between Western Health and the University of Melbourne established to encourage and support innovation and entrepreneurship between the health care sector and research teams. This exciting opportunity links compelling problems and unmet needs from the health sector with world-class research and commercialisation expertise at the University of Melbourne.
The first challenge is to identify a real unmet need in the health system requiring an innovative solution. It is a great time to start thinking about your great idea and identify a potential unmet need ahead of this launch. You are not expected to have the solution, only to have identified the problem.
Successful applicants then partner with the a University of Melbourne research team with relevant expertise and availability, to work on the project and a mentor will be assigned to each team. The teams will be provided with information on other support and resources available.
The project team then work closely with their mentor during a 3-month period to conceptualise their product and address some key commercial questions. Pitch training and a template pitch will be made available to the teams during the program. The pitch session will be a formal event where teams outline their innovative idea and commercialisation plan before a panel of experts. The panel will judge each pitch against specific criteria. Successful teams are awarded seed funding to develop the innovation.
To find out more please visit the Western Health Innovation Acceleration Program site.