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Hospital Innovation Programs Directory

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Health system intelligence profile

The Center for Innovation

Children's Hospital Colorado

Last reviewed August 30, 2026

Intelligence summary

Program at a Glance

Program mandate
The Center for Innovation, established in 2016, is Children's Hospital Colorado's hub for education, incubation and acceleration of pediatric healthcare ideas from its faculty and staff. It supports development of new drugs, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health technologies, and gives internal innovators access to a network of entrepreneurs-in-residence, mentors and innovation managers drawn from serial entrepreneurs, technical experts and venture capitalists.
Organizational model
Children's · Nonprofit
Location
Aurora, Colorado
Program types
Innovation centerAcceleratorPhysician innovation
Commercialization pathways
InvestmentStrategic partnership
Focus areas
ClinicalMedical deviceTherapeuticsDiagnosticsPediatricDigital
Public scale or maturity signals

Established 2016

Documented successes: Established in 2016 as the hospital's innovation hub; Operates a network of entrepreneurs-in-residence, mentors and innovation managers for internal innovators; Offers external partners ideation expertise, clinical validation using the hospital as a testbed, and clinical workflow expertise

Official engagement route
Program website ↗Health system website ↗
Last reviewed
August 30, 2026

Mandate and remit

What This Program Does

The Center for Innovation, established in 2016, is Children's Hospital Colorado's hub for education, incubation and acceleration of pediatric healthcare ideas from its faculty and staff. It supports development of new drugs, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health technologies, and gives internal innovators access to a network of entrepreneurs-in-residence, mentors and innovation managers drawn from serial entrepreneurs, technical experts and venture capitalists. Its stated goals include stimulating innovation, launching ventures, bringing outside technology into clinical care and attracting top faculty and students. Outside companies engage through a partner submission form and can collaborate in three defined ways: ideation expertise on clinical problems, testing and clinical validation using the hospital as a healthcare testbed, and clinical expertise on workflows. Faculty and staff submit ideas through a separate internal form, and the center takes meeting requests by email.

Areas of Focus

ClinicalMedical deviceTherapeuticsDiagnosticsPediatricDigital

Commercialization Pathways

These routes appear in the program's sourced public record.

InvestmentStrategic partnership

Publicly Reported Outcomes

  • Documented successes

    Established in 2016 as the hospital's innovation hub; Operates a network of entrepreneurs-in-residence, mentors and innovation managers for internal innovators; Offers external partners ideation expertise, clinical validation using the hospital as a testbed, and clinical workflow expertise

Contact the Program

Use the program's published contact route for partnership, licensing, innovation, or program inquiries.

Official contact page
Open contact page ↗

Related Programs

Comparable records based on shared public taxonomy, location, or commercialization route.

Same state · Same program type · Same commercialization route

Aurora, Colorado

UCHealth (with CU Anschutz Medical Campus and Children's Hospital Colorado)

CU Healthcare Innovation Fund

The CU Healthcare Innovation Fund is a strategic healthcare venture fund affiliated with the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and backed by UCHealth and Children's Hospital Colorado, giving it access to three clinical enterprises for validation and deployment.

Venture fundInnovation centerInvestmentStrategic partnershipClinicalMedical deviceTherapeutics

Children's · Nonprofit

Read the intelligence brief

Editorially verified · Reviewed August 30, 2026

Same state · Same program type · Same commercialization route

Aurora, Colorado

UCHealth / University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

CARE Innovation Center

The UCHealth CARE Innovation Center is a clinical-validation sandbox founded in 2016 that develops, validates and optimizes next-generation healthcare solutions across the UCHealth system.

Innovation centerVenture fundAcceleratorInvestmentStrategic partnershipClinicalDigitalConsumer

Academic · Nonprofit

Read the intelligence brief

Editorially verified · Reviewed August 30, 2026

Same program type · Same commercialization route

Celebration, Florida

AdventHealth

AdventHealth Nicholson Center

The AdventHealth Nicholson Center is a 54,000-square-foot medical learning and simulation incubation center in Celebration, Florida, which AdventHealth describes as one of the nation's largest and most experienced facilities of its kind.

Innovation centerStrategic partnershipClinicalMedical device

Nonprofit

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Reviewed August 30, 2026

Same program type · Same commercialization route

Charlotte, North Carolina

Advocate Health

Advocate Health Innovation (Innovative Collaborations and Technology Transfer Office)

Advocate Health's enterprise innovation function is led by a Chief Innovation and Commercialization Officer and combines an external-partnership front door with an internal commercialization office.

Innovation centerTechnology transferLicenseStrategic partnershipClinicalWorkforce

Nonprofit

Read the intelligence brief

Reviewed August 30, 2026

Same program type · Same commercialization route

Charlotte, North Carolina

Advocate Health

Advocate Health Technology Transfer Office

The Advocate Health Technology Transfer Office converts research and novel concepts generated inside the system into practical products.

Technology transferPhysician innovationLicenseStrategic partnershipClinicalDigitalWorkforce

Nonprofit

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Reviewed August 30, 2026

Same program type · Same commercialization route

Charlotte, North Carolina

Advocate Health (Atrium Health)

The Pearl

The Pearl is Advocate Health and Atrium Health's innovation district in Charlotte's historic Brooklyn neighborhood, launched June 2, 2025 in partnership with Wexford Science & Technology and Ventas.

Innovation centerInvestmentStrategic partnershipClinical

Nonprofit

Read the intelligence brief

Reviewed August 30, 2026

Sources and Updates

Reviewed August 30, 2026. External source links open in a new tab.

  1. The Center for Innovation official source ↗ — childrenscolorado.org. Accessed August 30, 2026.
  2. The Center for Innovation source 2 ↗ — childrenscolorado.org. Accessed August 30, 2026.

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