University Hospitals Joins Plug and Play Cleveland Innovation Platform As Founding Anchor Partner

CLEVELAND, June 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- /Plug and Play Cleveland/ – University Hospitals will become the newest member of Plug and Play Cleveland, joining Cleveland Clinic and JumpStart Inc. as a Founding Anchor Partner of the innovation platform.

Plug and Play Cleveland is a Global Innovation Platform and investor connecting startups, corporations and investors from around the world.  Plug and Play partners with organizations such as University Hospitals to provide a powerful network of expert  mentorship for startup companies.   

As a Founding Anchor Partner of Plug and Play Cleveland, University Hospitals will have access to a global network of startups working to develop innovative and impactful technologies.  Startups will look to UH as a proving ground for new health-oriented technologies, services, or tools.

"We are excited to partner with Plug and Play, a world-class organization with a proven track record," said Dr. Eric Beck, President of UH Ventures, the hospital system's division to develop innovative new business models to benefit patients and grow new revenue for the health system.

"We will support early-stage and start-up operations pioneering the next generation of patient-centric tools and business technologies that will help raise the standard of care and deliver higher-quality outcomes, while giving us an opportunity to be in on the ground floor of these innovations," said Beck.

UH Ventures, which launched last year, evaluates opportunities through partnership, investment, collaboration and other arrangements to further UH's strategic plan, while managing a portfolio of assets to maximize growth.

UH is one of the nation's leading health care systems, providing high-quality, patient-centered medical care at more than 200 locations throughout Northeast Ohio.  The UH network serves over 1.2 million individual patients, performs more than 10.9 million outpatient procedures and had more than  142,000 discharges last year. The system's  flagship UH Cleveland Medical Center is ranked in the top 50 in the United States in 11 different specialties. It is a leading academic medical center with more than 1,800 active clinical research studies. 

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 220 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit http://plugandplaytechcenter.com

About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio

Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 18 hospitals, more than 50 outpatient health centers and 200 physician offices in 15 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system's flagship academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, located on a 35-acre campus in Cleveland's University Circle, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The main campus also includes University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation; University Hospitals MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics, radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, transplantation and urology. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including "America's Best Hospitals" from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals – part of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with 26,000 employees.

UH's vision is "Advancing the Science of Health and the Art of Compassion," and its mission: "To Heal. To Teach. To Discover."  Follow UH on Facebook @UniversityHospitals and Twitter @UHhospitals. For more information, go to UHhospitals.org.

Contact: Chantel Moody, 216.534.8771, [email protected]

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SOURCE Plug and Play