CIMIT’s methodology involves convening experts from relevant disciplines, facilitating interaction between clinicians, engineers and others throughout the cycle of innovation, and funding research initiatives to revolutionize patient care.

What makes CIMIT unique – and effective – is the in-house team of full-time experts who facilitate the complex process of introducing technological innovations into healthcare. This highly experienced, multidisciplinary team provides support and specialized expertise to investigators in intellectual property protection, patents and licensing, technology implementation, regulatory issues, fundraising, commercialization, and much more.

CIMIT Clinical Impact

In 2010, the CIMIT Clinical Impact Study reviewed 560 projects over its twelve year history. The study revealed the optimal structure for maximizing clinical impact - a two-stage funding/ facilitation process.

CIMIT Facilitation is a two-stage funding/ facilitation process. The first stage provides seed funding for high-risk, high-reward ideas. CIMIT Grants support early stage, collaborative research projects for improving patient care, with emphasis on devices, procedures, diagnosis, and the delivery of healthcare. This seed funding is suppported with both pre- and post-award facilitation from CIMIT.

The second stage of funding and facilitation identifies innovations that may have a significant impact on patient care. CIMIT facilitation at this stage can come in the form of support to find outside enabled-funding sources or funding and facilitation through the CIMIT Accelerator program.

CIMIT Clinical Impact Study: Paving the Way for Future Success »
CIMIT MODEL: Accelerating the Pace from Bench to Bedside »

CIMIT FACILITATION MODEL DIAGRAM

» Click here to see a larger diagram of the Facilitation Model

CIMIT invests heavily in sustaining this powerful, dedicated, facilitative team of experts supporting the clinical and engineering champions who lead its programs and site mine the consortium institutions for novel opportunities to improve patient care through technology. The CIMIT Facilitators are an integral part of the CIMIT mission and form its innovation support infrastructure. These functions exist to enhance its mission to accelerate the pace of innovation by actively facilitating the investigators progress through a highly customized plan

• Connecting project leaders with individuals or teams that offer complementary skills to meet a unique need. These may be people who never would have met under normal circumstances. Strong applications for funding arise from these connections.
  
  
• Bringing in appropriate industrial resources, technologies, or prototyping skills at whatever stage they are needed.

» CIMIT Opportunity: Leveraging Boston's Medical & Research Economy

• Funding prototype development to prove a concept or to allow animal or human studies.  Such prototypes add value and plausibility to any subsequent licensing efforts.
  
  
• Guiding and supporting project leaders through the challenges of obtaining needed regulatory approvals and protection of any IP for subsequent licensing.
  
  
• Helping obtain follow-on funding for the next phase of work beyond the pilot stage, including potential philanthropy.
  
  
• Assisting with business planning, reimbursement analysis, connections with licensees or investors, and other requirements in the launch of a given technology in healthcare.
  
  
• Helping solve administrative problems with IP management, contract negotiation, grants administration, regulatory compliance, and more.
  
  
• Facilitating connections between investigators and the Department of Defense to explore potential “dual use” capabilities of new technologies.
  
  
• Educating clinicians about device development and commercialization by sponsoring programs and courses in concert with engineering schools and business schools.