This post was authored by Jeffrey S. Soble, MD, FACC.

The ACC recently embarked on a partnership with global incubator and investment fund, 1776, to help fuel innovation in health care. As part of this partnership, the College is supporting the 1776 Challenge Cup, a global competition to identify the most promising startups solving some of the world’s biggest challenges, including health care.

As part of this support, the ACC is hosting several of the health care Challenge Cup winners from around the globe in San Diego for ACC.15. It’s been a privilege to interact with these innovative start-up founders and learn first-hand from them about the challenges and opportunities associated with bringing innovation to life. Over the last three days, Challenge Cup winners have attended sessions in the Future of CV Medicine pathway, met with industry representatives and networked with ACC leaders.

I also had the privilege of moderating a panel discussion on the aptly named “Innovation Stage” on Monday where Challenge Cup winners shared their stories and joined ACC leaders in talking about the importance of innovation in the health care space. Among the start-ups presenting, were Nitesh Kumar Jangir from Bangalore, whose Coeo Labs is a medical technology startup committed to developing cheap and affordable medical innovations projects for critical unmet needs, such as reducing the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia; and Monika Weber from Boston whose Fluid-Screen is a novel hand-held device that detects bacteria in water, blood and other fluids in 30 minutes as opposed to up to four days. Pratap Kuma of Nairobi’s project called Health-E-Net is designed to help patients in developing countries connect with remotely located, volunteer medical specialists over an electronic platform to help inform care decisions. Other projects include Keet Software out of Austin – a HIPAA-compliant patient engagement platform for physical therapy that transforms traditional paper-based therapy programs into branded and tracked web-based mobile applications – and Medivizor out of Tel Aviv, which looks at a person’s medical history and creates a personalized profile that provides them with relevant information and updates. Nishi Rawat of New York City talked about OpenBeds, which facilitates transferring patients between hospitals to get them the specialty care they need, while Roger Price of Sydney’s ResQdevices start-up is responsible for the ParaCart, a compact combination of a stretcher and “stair chair,” and the LineSaver, body armour for IV cannulas for use by paramedics.

You can’t help but be inspired by these projects and the people behind them. The ACC as an organization has long being on the forefront of health care innovation, with the creation of guidelines, NCDR and cutting-edge education and quality programs. The field of cardiology as a whole has also been an innovation leader. However, in his remarks during the Opening Session on Saturday, ACC President Patrick O’Gara, MD, FACC, posed the question of whether “whether we have the systems in place, organizational flexibility, and … the societal tolerance, to allow for the practical implementation” of marvelous scientific advances coming our way. “How do we best enable a successful future focused on improving the cardiovascular health and lives of our patients? How do we deliver on the value proposition we espouse and upon which we are, or will be, judged?,” he asks.

Bringing together our expertise with the startup community creates tremendous opportunity to move us toward answering these questions and, I think, positions us ahead of the curve in terms of accelerating the next generation of cardiovascular innovation. Let’s be inspired! Let’s get innovating!

Get a sneak peek of the startups and vote for your favorite on ACC’s Facebook page.

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