MaineHealth Innovation Center

Public description

About the program

The MaineHealth Innovation Center, founded in 2020 and based at Maine Medical Center in Portland, describes itself as the connective tissue between research, education and care for a system of roughly 23,000 employees serving about 1.1 million patients in Maine and New Hampshire. It defines innovation as a novel idea that solves an unmet care need through new care team models, products or services, and supports care team members from idea through commercialization. Its programs include the Innovation Cohort, a free ten-week structured program; the Innovation Blender; an Innovation Funding Program with the Ignite Fund providing up to $20,000 in seed capital and Bonfire Funding providing up to $100,000 for care team member startups; innovation workshops and innovation in education. A dedicated intellectual property and technology transfer function handles patenting and licensing of employee inventions. Outside entrepreneurs and companies engage as mentors, co-development partners and follow-on investors in Bonfire startups.

What the program publicly emphasizes

Focus areas and features

• •Category: Health system accelerator

Publicly documented people and network

Program leadership and alumni

Program leader

Susan Ahern — Vice President of Innovation, MaineHealth

Notable alumni named in public materials

23 innovations supported since the Ignite Fund began in 2020; Bonfire start-ups have received $895,000 in follow-on funding as of the July 2025 newsletter; 10 projects completed in the Spring 2025 Innovation Cohort; two 2025 Ignite Fund recipients received $20,000 each for a Virtual Patient Service Representative Kiosk and a Tumor Genomic Testing Framework