Together,
we'll innovate
a solution.

The Innovation Acceleration Program (IAP) is a 12-week program enabling healthcare professionals to work in partnership with experts from the University of Melbourne to develop innovative solutions to unmet healthcare needs, transforming obstacles into opportunities.

In 2024, the IAP will run as a collaboration between Western Health and the University of Melbourne.

 

“I would highly recommend this program to anyone with a good idea and the willingness to work though problems. There is a great deal to be learned that extends far beyond our usual clinical duties and has been a very rewarding experience for me”. 

Josh Szental, Specialist Anaesthetist Western Health

  • What is the IAP?

    The Hospital Innovation Acceleration Program (IAP) is a pre-accelerator enabling healthcare professionals to work with experts from the University of Melbourne to develop innovative solutions to compelling unmet needs. 

    Inspired by collaboration between Western Health anaesthetist A/Prof Dr Forbes McGain and University of Melbourne engineer Prof Jason Monty on the McMonty Hood personal ventilator for hospital beds, the IAP: 

    • Provides opportunity to Western Health staff – clinical and non-clinical – who have identified unmet needs within the healthcare system and want to develop innovative solutions supported by expert teams. 
    • Partners Western Health staff with teams of researchers, business developers, and experts in innovation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, and venture capital investing from the University of Melbourne. 
    • Delivers 12 weeks of customized support and five workshops on value proposition design and talking with stakeholders, business model design and testing, intellectual property, pathways to funding, and pitching.
    • Supports teams to pitch for funding from $10,000-$100,000 to continue developing their innovations. 
  • What are benefits of the IAP?

    Participants in the IAP are:

    • Inspired to become innovator, entrepreneurs, and problem-solvers at scale. 
    • Equipped with knowledge and experience in established innovation and entrepreneurship best practice. 
    • Connected with researchers, business developers, and mentors from the University of Melbourne. 
    • Encouraged to contribute to an inter-organisational culture of collaborative innovation and opportunity creation. 
    • Guided to identify problems worth solving and repeatable, scalable, impactful business models. 
    • Supported with seed funding to continue your journey of transforming obstacles into opportunities.  
    • Enabled to fuel a pipeline of healthcare innovations, intellectual property, and startups in Victoria. 

     

  • How does the IAP work?
    1. Reach out for a consultation with the program leads: 
    2. Apply to the program by May 15th, 2024. We’re here to help.  
      • You don’t need a solution, just a compelling problem you’re passionate about solving.  
    3. Receive our decision by May 29th. 
    4. Confirm your participation by June 3rd 
    5. Get matched with your University of Melbourne project partners by 26 June. 
    6. Begin the 12-week program in early July (specific dates to be confirmed)
      • Kickoff event: Welcoming you to the program 
      • Workshop 1: Value Proposition Design
      • Workshop 2: Business Model Design 
      • Workshop 3: Intellectual Property
      • Workshop 4: Pathways to funding 
      • Workshop 5: Pitching 
    7. Pitch event: Pitch for a share of $100,000 in seed funding 
    8. Throughout: Work together with your University of Melbourne project partners. 
    9. Post pitch: Continue your innovation journey with support from and access to WH / UoM ecosystem 
  • What projects have gone through the IAP?

    Representative Western Health projects to date include: 

    • McMonty Hood – personal ventilation hood for hospital beds 
    • ReResp – resusable respirator with enhanced speech intelligibility 
    • Blood Loss Monitor – rapid and accurate determination of blood loss in surgery 
    • Chemotherapy dosing – precision-tailored dosage for colorectal cancers 
    • Post-heart-attack care – enhanced post-discharge care for heart attack survivors 
    • Post-ICU care – improved post-discharge care for ICU survivors 
    • Health information – customised health-information for CALD communities