The Acceleration Lab supports CHCI's commitment to be a center for - not of - innovation. Through flagship programs, coordinated training and mentorship, and strategic partnerships, we energize and empower individuals on the frontlines to apply a disciplined, scientific approach to creating, evaluating, and implementing high impact solutions.
Innovation Accelerator Program
The Innovation Accelerator Program supports faculty and staff from across Penn Medicine in their efforts to develop, test, and implement new approaches to improve health care delivery and patient outcomes. Working closely with innovation advisors, teams move through multiple phases of work to validate new approaches and bring successful innovations to scale at Penn Medicine and beyond. Since the inception of the program, more than 35 projects have been funded. The program accepts applications on an annual basis starting in February.
Health-Tech Design and Development Program
The Health-Tech Design and Development program empowers faculty and staff from the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Medicine to develop and commercialize medical devices and health technologies to advance health and health care. The program is co-sponsored by Penn Health-Tech and the Acceleration Lab. Participating teams receive funding, hands-on advising to support, and access to industry experts and complementary programs to assist with engineering, design, manufacturing, regulatory guidance, quality systems, and marketing. The program accepts applications on an annual basis starting in January.
Office Hours
CHCI hosts various office hours for faculty, staff, and students affiliated with Penn Medicine or the University of Pennsylvania. To book an appointment, choose the kind of office hours that best fits your needs and select a date and time that works for you. All sessions are currently being conducted virtually due to COVID-19. You will receive a Microsoft Teams invite with instructions for joining the session upon booking an appointment.
Accelerators in Health Care Card Game
Created by Acceleration Lab staff, the Accelerators in Health Care (AHC) card game leverages the power of analogies and constraints to help teams generate innovative solutions for some of the toughest challenges in health care. After cycling through co-creation stages and pitching to one another to determine the winning idea, players leave the game with enhanced ideation skills and a deeper understanding of innovation methodology.