NAIROBI, KENYA, 13th NOVEMBER 2020 – KUTRRH has operationalised the Medical Innovation & Accelerator Hub (MIAH) in an event graced by CS., ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Joe Mucheru.
Disruptive innovation and entrepreneurship are central to quality, accessible and universal healthcare locally and globally. The mission of KUTRRH has innovation at heart, “to enhance the quality of lives through the provision of patient-centred and evidence-based health care, training, innovation and state of the art technology”. The spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship espouses imagining new means to achieve new ends for quality healthcare.
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The spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship at KUTRRH is also grounded on the Big Four Agenda of the Office of the President of the Republic of Kenya on enhancing manufacturing, food security and nutrition, affordable housing and affordable healthcare for all. The achievement of all the four-point agenda in general and affordable, quality healthcare, in particular, depends on innovation and quality support infrastructure.
For this reason, KUTRRH has Medical Innovation and Accelerator Hub that provides a program for development, adoption and diffusion of high-value innovation in diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, medical equipment and health services.
MIAH will spot, vet, admit and incubate high-value medical innovations from students, staff, academia, industry and the general community. It will also provide an eco-system that brings onboard capacity and capability to drive ideas into healthcare solutions including diverse expertise to grow and mature the ideas, tools and equipment for product development as well as investors and financiers to support the innovation process.
The Hub is poised to offer disruptive Innovations in:
- Spotting Diagnostics
- Therapeutics
- Healthcare Devices
- Healthcare Equipment
- Healthcare Services
Medical Innovation & Acceleration Hub Goals
- Spotting opportunities for disruptive innovation in healthcare.
- Evaluating viable ideas, prototypes or inventions for acceleration
- Providing program support to accelerate progress from ideas, prototypes and inventions into disruptive products and services.
- Establishment of an eco-system to scale disruptive innovations for the transformation of healthcare and socio-economic wellbeing.
How Will MIAH Support Incubatees
The Medical Innovation and Accelerator Hub will provide a program that facilitates the following:
- Product or service development
- Technical and clinical refinement
- Trial or testing and the related support and welfare services for the incubatees.
The Hub will support incubatees and innovators in the following stages:
- At the budding stages of ideas
- Product and business development
- Early and late-stage innovation with working prototypes or products or services that need further development or scaling.
The evaluation criteria for the ideas, prototypes and early-stage products will include the clarity, usability, stability, scalability, stickiness, technical and clinical feasibility, economic viability and legal requirements. Depending on the nature of the ideas, prototypes and early-stage products may also include quantitative and qualitative evaluations.