Community Blog - gBETA Medtech Accelerator – Filling a Critical Gap for Start-Ups
Summary
In the last several years, an increasing number of medtech accelerator programs have sprouted up across the country, some backed by large device manufacturers, medical centers, major universities and others, to facilitate the start-up process. Whats more, the program not only gives young companies the opportunity to tap into diverse skill sets represented by the people they meet within the sponsoring companies, but it also exposes sponsors to important high-need or emerging sectors within the medtech space, some of which might not be their area of expertise.The Community Blog also spoke with Bryan Clark, Corporate Research Fellow at Boston Scientific, who was a driving force in seeing that the gBETA program got off the ground from the Boston Scientific side. One of Boston Scientifics core values is collaboration, and our leadership in global research asked me mid last year to take a look at the local ecosystem here and see what we could do to help foster innovation. We looked at a number of different models, and ultimately decided that collaboration with other external entities to take a broader view at helping to foster innovation among early-stage start-ups was the way to go, he continues.Before gBETA, there wasnt something that served the proto-entrepreneur in our region who needed this type of support and guidance. All companies also receive individualized coaching and mentorship from the experienced gener8tor and Boston Scientific teams, office space, and access to $1M+ in deals and perks from vendors such as SoftLayer, Rackspace, Amazon, PayPal, Zendesk and Microsoft.