This post has been updated with comments from PULSE Program Director Nick Dougherty.
MassChallenge, a Boston-based accelerator, has launched a digital health accelerator, PULSE@Mass Challenge, and is seeking applications. The new program at Mass Challenge is part of a push to make Boston a digital health hub.
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But in an unconventional approach to articulating the kinds of technologies it seeks, PULSE had its partners do that for them, as Naveen Rao of Tincture, who attended the launch event, wrote in a blog post for Medium.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, for example, is interested in companies using data to
change how we understand the progression of degenerative conditions such as Huntington’s disease and speed up the drug delivery cycle. Franciscan Children’s Hospital is looking for technology that can support remote monitoring so they can reduce the intrusiveness of noisy machines.
Nick Dougherty is the program director for PULSE and a seasoned entrepreneur. He previously founded and led VerbalCare — a digital health business that went through the MassChallenge accelerator in Boston and was later acquired by Medical Specialties Distributors last year.
Although MassChallenge will continue to work with early stage digital health startups, Dougherty explained in a phone interview that PULSE is geared to later stage companies that are looking for ways to scale. The should have raised no more than $5 million and generate under $5 million in revenue.
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Although Dougherty anticipates the inaugural program will have at least 10 companies, it could go as high as 30, depending on how large the businesses are and how suitable they are to the PULSE program’s target . The six-month program, which runs from January through June next year, is open to companies around the world so they are not limited by geography to attract the best candidates to Boston.
The vision behind PULSE is to make Boston a digital health hub. Institutions such as Partners HealthCare, Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have shown a lot of interest in digital health adoption. The Digital Health Lab where the PULSE program is housed is designed to break down the silos of these institutions to share ideas and insights alongside entrepreneurs and established technology companies. The program and shared workspace is designed to offer entrepreneurs unparalleled access to hospitals to facilitate pilot studies.
“We are a catalyst for an ecosystem and we’ve done it over and over again [at MassChallenge] and we’re about to do it in digital health.”
Mass Challenge has been in full-on expansion mode this year. In the first quarter of 2016, the group brought the Boston accelerator model to Jerusalem, Renens, Switzerland, and Mexico City.
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