Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship – A Project for Spain

On February 3, 2020, Meridian International Center and the U.S. Department of State welcomed ten healthcare leaders from the ITEMAS Network, a group of Spanish hospitals working in coordination with their Ministry of Health Social Services and Equality and the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) to promote healthcare innovation and the commercialization of research findings in Spain. Over the course of their ten-day IVLP project, the participants traveled Washington, Cleveland, and Boston to meet with leaders in healthcare innovation and research commercialization from both the public and private sectors.

The highlight of their time in Washington, DC was a site visit and discussion with representatives of the MedStar Institute for Innovation’s Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, an applied research, usability, safety advisement, and education center committed to the scientific study of how humans think, work, and interact within the healthcare environment. After a meeting to give an overview of the center, participants toured their simulation and training lab.

While in Cleveland, Ohio, the participants connected with the mission and activities of the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. Multiple participants remarked on how the center’s activities closely it mirrored their project back home. They also took away valuable insights from their half-day visit to Case Western Reserve University’s multiple institutions supporting health innovation and technology transfer. In their free time, participants enjoyed Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The participants ended their IVLP project in Boston, where they gained valuable insight from their meeting with Massachusetts General Hospital and the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT). Both meetings presented participants with opportunities for international collaboration and immediate sharing of best practices in their field.

Throughout the program, these Spanish healthcare leaders met with a diversity of players in the field of healthcare, medical innovation and research commercialization. They left their program with contacts eager to continue future collaboration.

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