The dynamic development of technology means that healthcare is entering the most intensive phase of transformation in decades. Growing patient expectations, workforce shortages, an aging population, and pressure for efficiency are forcing health systems to seek new, better ways of organizing care. In this context, medical innovations – particularly those developed by startups – are gaining strategic importance.
However, global experience makes one thing clear: the most groundbreaking solutions do not emerge in isolation, but in places where startups can collaborate with clinical practice, science, and the real patient environment. Increasingly, these places are hospitals.
Why are hospitals becoming the new incubators of innovation?
Many medical technologies fail not because they are poor, but because they were created too far from actual clinical needs. In Poland, many early-stage innovations are born in business programs, where there is limited access to data, experts, and opportunities to test solutions in practice.
Meanwhile, hospitals:
- have the best knowledge of real clinical problems,
- possess expert medical expertise,
- have access to data, patients, and real organizational processes,
- can assess whether a solution truly solves a problem,
- can conduct validation, pilots, and product iterations.
This is why, globally, medical institutions are becoming “living laboratories”, incubators, and natural partners for startups. The best innovation ecosystems today are emerging exactly where clinical practice, science, and business meet in one place.
IMiD: From Inspiration to a Real Incubation Model
At the Institute of Mother and Child (IMiD), we have been observing this global shift for years, while also seeing how many excellent Polish projects end their life at the prototype stage. That is why we are developing the original IMiD Innovation Incubator, operating within the Deployment Department – the Center for Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. Our mission is clear: to build an ecosystem of modern medical technologies that respond to the real needs of patients and the healthcare system.
What does this mean in practice?
A startup doesn’t just “talk” to a clinician – it works side by side with the IMiD team to refine its solution.
From Inspiration to Systemic Change
If we want Polish medical innovations to compete globally, they must develop where knowledge is created – in hospitals.
In the IMiD Incubator, we will support startups at every stage of development – from the first concept to pilot and scaling. We will help verify the idea with clinicians, test the prototype in a real hospital environment, conduct a pilot or sandbox, and obtain the data and partners needed for further development. We will connect young companies with experts, hospitals, investors, and the MCSC ecosystem, offering expert support, access to infrastructure, and practical experience that cannot be gained outside the healthcare system.
Hospitals are not ceasing to be places of care. But they are also becoming:
R&D centers, testing laboratories, partners for startups, validation and pilot hubs, and connectors between science, business, and the patient.
And that is precisely why the hospital is now one of the most important catalysts of innovation in medicine.
As part of the Gaia AI Factory project, IMiD will additionally be responsible for creating and running a medical sandbox – a safe, regulatory testing environment. You can read more about this initiative HERE.