Session Organizer: Kurt Smith, Fogarty Innovation
Fogarty Innovation is a proven MedTech incubator in Silicon Valley that is uniquely missioned around a non-profit, education & alliance focused incubation model. Since its inception seventeen years ago by iconoclast mega-inventor Dr. Tom Fogarty, Fogarty Innovation has hosted 36 incubator companies with an average tenure of 3.2 years and more than $1.2B total dollars raised or an average of $34.5M raised per company. Fogarty Innovation’s success in translating concepts into viable businesses at >5 times the industry average is largely due to the alliance-based ecosystem that it provides to entrepreneurs including strategic partnerships with the FDA, academic medical institutions, national medical societies, a network of early-stage VC investors and private equity investors, and corporate strategics, as well its unique “full contact” coaching from seasoned, proven, on-staff innovators with extensive domain & functional experience. In this session you will learn about Fogarty Innovation’s unique approach to on-ramping a MedTech startup including its experience working in close collaboration with Stanford University to translate ideas from inventors into established companies.
John Morriss, Fogarty Innovation
John Morriss
Director, Invention Accelerator Program, Fogarty Innovation
John is the Director of the Invention Accelerator Program (IAP) at Fogarty Innovation. The IAP works with health care providers and technical experts to bridge the gap between promising ideas and their ability to launch as fundable businesses. Past experience at The Foundry incubator included co-founding and serving as vice president of research and development at Twelve, a transcatheter mitral valve replacement company. Prior to the Foundry, John worked in R&D for Acclarent, Coapt Systems, and product design companies. He is an inventor on more than 100 patents. John holds a BA from Duke University, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University, and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Kurt R Smith, D.Sc.
Kurt R Smith, D.Sc.
Special Advisor, Fogarty Innovation
Kurt R. Smith, D.Sc., has a proven track record in innovation and entrepreneurship with the unique ability to drive passion in individuals and collaborative teams so that they can achieve their highest potential. Kurt is the founder of numerous high technology companies including Surgical Navigation Technologies which is now owned by Medtronic where has had a long and storied career spanning over thirty years. He has also been a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Colorado where he founded the Engineering Entrepreneurship Program, and he holds more than 30 medical and information technology patents and is an AIMBE Fellow and a Medtronic Bakken Fellow. Today, Kurt is focusing his skills in innovation development, digital strategy, and coaching as a Special Advisor to Fogarty Innovation, a non-profit education & alliance-based MedTech incubator in Mountain View, CA.