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Innovation Ecosystem Projects Overview
The Innovation Ecosystem (IE) team seeks to bolster a workplace environment that motivates, supports, and enables CHOP faculty and staff to develop and test new solutions. IE partners with and connects the various hubs and centers across CHOP that provide funding and support to innovation projects. Through such connections, IE can provide skill-building and networking resources relevant to CHOP innovators and those that support them. Current projects support a thriving innovation ecosystem at CHOP by Strengthening Community, Building Connections, and Increasing Capacity.
There is so much expertise at CHOP among our researchers, clinicians, lab managers, hospital operations, compliance/regulatory lawyers, and tech transfer experts. In such a large and dynamic organization, EKP can run queries with specific key terms to identify people at CHOP with critical expertise who could serve as mentors, research collaborators and advisors to help an idea move further faster. EKP's development has been sponsored by NSF I-CORP and the NSF RAPID grant.
The current version of EKP integrates data from NIHReporter and PubMed to facilitate expertise and resource finding, increase employee engagement, bridge internal silos, and create a culture of inclusion. Ultimately, the Innovation Ecosystem and Tsui Lab plan to integrate additional data from various public, proprietary and CHOP internal sources into EKP.
Learn more details, watch a user guide video, find answers to FAQs and log in to EKP, by visiting the EKP Application page.
IE hosts a class intended to increase awareness of opportunities to be an academic entrepreneur within clinical and research careers-- inside or adjacent to academia. "Weaving Academic Entrepreneurship into Your Career" is held few times a year with speakers and stories varying session-to-session. Sign up to receive IE's invites and newsletter for alerts about this class.
IE is also offering the first-of-its-kind survey course for CHOP faculty and staff. Participants will build the skills needed for academic entrepreneurship, so they have the confidence to take their next step in innovation. "Academic Entrepreneurship Fundamentals: A Professional Development Course" will be offered in Fall 2023 and the application process opens in June 2023.
This event series is designed to help CHOP innovators prepare for informed, productive conversations with CHOP’s expert legal, technology transfer, business, and other resources. The format facilitates networking and community-building and uses content from the Academic Entrepreneurship for Medical and Health Scientists eBook. Events are planned and executed in partnership with chapter authors who are local as well as CHOP-based subject matter experts. Visit the Innovation Ecosystem Blog (log in required) for information about upcoming events. Post-event resources are posted in Innovation Ecosystem Resources.
Formed in early 2020, the Innovation Communicators Group (ICG) group brings together representatives from various innovation hubs, or programs, that provide support to CHOP’s innovators in the form of funding, business plan development, technical/analytical expertise, protected time, and more. The ICG convenes at least quarterly to align communication strategies on innovation at CHOP, share best-practice tips, troubleshoot common barriers, and occasionally partner on projects. ICG convenings create shared knowledge to benefit all CHOP innovation programs. If your program supports innovators at CHOP and you would like to participate in the Innovation Communicators Group, please contact ecosystem@chop.edu.
Member Hubs include:
Growth Business Planning - BOAT & Canoe (chop.edu)
Cell and Gene Therapy Collaborative
Center for Healthcare Quality and Analytics
CHOP Cares Community Grants Program
Multi-Disciplinary Program Resources
Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Center for Public Health Readiness and Response
Patient/Family Education Innovation Grant
Pennsylvania Pediatric Medical Device Consortium
CHOP’s Center for Healthcare Quality and Analytics is home to the CHOP Improvement Education Program. Beginning in fall 2020, the IE team annually delivers a session on Design Thinking to participants of CHQA’s Leading Improvement Course. The session aims to complement and expand the CHOP Improvement Framework by teaching participants methods used in innovation and design that help identify needs in the “define” phase of a project and expand upon possible “change ideas” through creative thinking techniques. This session provides the experience and teaches the skills needed for CHOP faculty and staff to initiate and lead improvement projects in their units and departments. CHOP Employees can learn more about the Improvement Education Program on the @CHOP Community page.
COVID Innovator Interviews
Faced by challenges of the COVID pandemic, CHOP teams went above and beyond to ideate, build, test, implement, sustain, and grow innovative ideas to meet urgent needs. Through a series of interviews with innovators and frontline staff involved in building and executing said innovations, the IE team sought to understand the process, barriers, and facilitators to moving an innovation of any kind from idea to implementation in the CHOP environment, as well as how this environment changed during COVID. By generating key takeaways and recommendations based on faculty and staff insights, they aim to formalize these learnings into best practices and innovation pathways that can transform CHOP’s future state. CHOP Employees read more.
Scans and Expert Recommendations for Building an Innovation Ecosystem
In two consulting scopes of work, one looking internally to CHOP innovation experts and one looking externally at the innovation strategy and structure of peer institutions, IE team sought to build a comprehensive "landscape analysis" of pediatric healthcare innovation and CHOP’s position within it. The result: a list of strategic recommendations for building an innovation ecosystem, an institution-wide infrastructure to support and connect centers of excellence, individuals, and ideas. In partnership with various groups across CHOP, the IE team is actively working towards these goals. However, they aim to further engage key leaders and decision-makers who can adapt the consultant suggestions into actionable strategies for the future. CHOP Employees read more.