Facilitation Services

SUPPORTING TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH TO ACCELERATE
THE PACE FROM BENCH TO BEDSIDE

What makes CIMIT unique – and effective – is the in-house team of full-time experts who facilitate the complex process of introducing technological innovations into healthcare. This highly experienced, multidisciplinary team provides support and specialized expertise to investigators in intellectual property protection, patents and licensing, technology implementation, small business grant process, regulatory issues, fundraising, commercialization, and much more. 

Click here to see a diagram of the CIMIT Facilitation Model

The goal of all CIMIT Facilitators is to leverage the strength of their backgrounds in business, law, intellectual property protection and product development. They also serve as a magnet to attract innovative thinkers and help investigators move novel ideas from bench to bedside. These activities are led by individuals with substantial experience acquired during previous professional positions; skills and insights that make them uniquely suited to address the issues arising along the commercialization pathway.

CIMIT invests heavily in sustaining this powerful, dedicated, facilitative team of experts supporting the clinical and engineering champions who lead its programs and site mine the consortium institutions for novel opportunities to improve patient care through technology. The CIMIT Facilitators are an integral part of the CIMIT mission and form its innovation support infrastructure. These functions exist to enhance its mission to accelerate the pace of innovation by actively facilitating the investigators progress through a highly customized plan, including:

Connecting project leaders with individuals or teams that offer complementary skills to meet a unique need. These may be people who never would have met under normal circumstances. Strong applications for funding arise from these connections.

Bringing in appropriate industrial resources, technologies, or prototyping skills at whatever stage they are needed.

Funding prototype development to prove a concept or to allow animal or human studies.  Such prototypes add value and plausibility to any subsequent licensing efforts.

Guiding and supporting project leaders through the challenges of obtaining needed regulatory approvals and protection of any IP for subsequent licensing.

Helping obtain follow-on funding for the next phase of work beyond the pilot stage, including potential philanthropy.

Assisting with business planning, reimbursement analysis, connections with licensees or investors, and other requirements in the launch of a given technology in healthcare.

Helping solve administrative problems with IP management, contract negotiation, grants administration, regulatory compliance, and more.

Facilitating connections between investigators and the Department of Defense to explore potential “dual use” capabilities of new technologies

Educating clinicians about device development and commercialization by sponsoring programs and courses in concert with engineering schools and business schools.