Apply for IDEA² program and put your healthcare technology ideas to work
Miami, May 21, 2021 – For the first time, The Idea Center at Miami Dade College (MDC) is collaborating with MIT linQ, an international biomedical technology innovation consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Institute of Medical Engineering and Science to offer the virtual 2021 edition of IDEA², a program providing transformative mentorship, expertise, and funding to emerging innovators with fresh and compelling new healthcare technology projects.
The Idea Center at MDC will coordinate the Miami-Dade County’s participation in IDEA², and its Director, Gustavo Grande, will participate as a mentor during the six-month program, which kicks off June 24.
“MDC’s participation in IDEA² heightens our ability to carry out our mission to prepare students for success with excellent innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship skills,” Grande said. “We invite anyone with a great idea to address unmet medical needs to apply.”
The annual IDEA² program, which runs from June through December, recruits teams with strong early-stage ideas for new technologies and innovation-driven enterprises. Through intensive innovation workshops and hand-selected expert mentor relationships, teams strengthen their technology focus and strategic plans. They complete IDEA2 with technology innovation projects clearly focused on compelling medical needs, broad networks of connections, and improved abilities to compete for collaborators and funding. This year, IDEA2 has a special emphasis on projects that can improve health for women and communities historically underserved in biomedical research and healthcare, which is particularly important given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on these communities.
This collaboration was enabled in part by funding from the Global CoCreation Lab, which fosters innovation growth and expansion in Miami-Dade County by creating partnerships that accelerate health tech, innovation-driven new enterprises.
“All eyes are on the emergence of Miami’s technology industry, and we know that there are many local entrepreneurs with impactful and inventive ideas in the healthcare tech space,” said Alejandro Roman, Executive Director of Global CoCreation Lab. “MIT’s IDEA2 provides a valuable resource for Miami innovators in our growing tech sector and will attract more funders and founders to the region. We’re very pleased to collaborate with The Idea Center at Miami Dade College and to foster participation in IDEA2 from Miami-Dade County.”
The IDEA² program is open to anyone in Miami-Dade County. To apply and for more information, visit https://idea2.mit.edu/miami/ or contact Gustavo Grande at ggrande@mdc.edu.
About The Idea Center at Miami Dade College
The Idea Center @ MDC is the college’s groundbreaking hub of innovation, the place where students from all disciplines can gather, collaborate and take advantage of resources and training to develop their entrepreneurial ideas. Through cutting-edge entrepreneurship education, professional development and experiential learning, students and community members can acquire the tools needed to identify challenges and develop solutions. The Idea Center’s core programs include Startup Challenge, CREATE accelerator, Impact Miami and Reimagining Cities, the Pioneers@MDC monthly speaker series and the Mike Fernandez Global Business Leadership Series, to name a few. For more information, visit www.theideacenter.co.
About MIT linQ
MIT linQ is an initiative based at the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (IMES) at MIT to develop a new paradigm for biomedical technology innovation. Part of the MIT Innovation Initiative, linQ unifies a portfolio of international innovation programs focused on improving healthcare through need-driven, interdisciplinary research, and training. For more information, visit http://mitlinq.org.
About Global CoCreation Lab
Global CoCreation Lab is a community-focused organization that serves as an external innovation partner for health technology and business, the Global Co-Creation Lab orchestrates research and development, innovation, and entrepreneurship activities within a precompetitive environment. It works with the public and the private sectors for the co-creation of breakthrough technologies and innovation-driven enterprises that solve problems of importance for Miami-Dade and beyond.