MassRobotics, Festo, Mitsubishi, MITRE and Novanta join efforts to support healthcare robotics startups

MassRobotics, Festo, Mitsubishi Electric Automation, MITRE and Novanta are calling on startups in the healthcare robotics space to apply to the second Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst program.

The objective of the program is to advance healthcare robotics companies by providing the connections, guidance, and resources they need to grow and succeed.

The selected startups will be guided by senior-level mentors from organizing companies and supported to connect with potential customers, investors, suppliers, marketing and more.

Additionally, the selected startups will exchange milestones with the larger Healthcare Robotics Working Group, comprised of an Eastern US cluster of corporate, academic, government, startup and venture capital volunteers.

The program focuses on startups in the areas of clinical care, public safety, laboratory, supply chain automation, out-of-hospital care, and quality of life. It also addresses continuity of work and education, as well as training and support for healthcare professionals.

In the first Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst program, the selected companies included Bionomous (Switzerland), Eureka Robotics (Singapore), Assistive Technology Development (USA) and Kinarm (Canada).

They all successfully achieved significant milestones through the program, including but not limited to, funding, sales, signing a global partnership and territory expansions.

Alfons Riek, VP of technology and innovation, Festo, says: “The great success of the first cohort of the Catalyst program encouraged us to continue with this great approach. It’s not about offering financial resources, which are available in many places.

“This unique program provides resources, which startups do not find easily such as access to a worldwide business network, domain knowledge, engineering and a dedicated mentoring team that supports the growth of the startup and helps meet the startup’s timelines.

“We are so glad that also other industry partners joined the program under the umbrella of MassRobotics.”

The organizing MassRobotics partner organizations making this call for applications are all leaders in the healthcare robotics space.

William Nguyen, PhD, development manager, Mitsubishi Electric Automation, says: “We look forward to collaborating with startup companies for innovative solutions and technologies to succeed our customers.”

Motivated by the results of the first cohort, Matthijs Glastra, CEO of Novanta, says: “We are proud to support MassRobotics in its critical mission to create advanced robotics, particularly in the medical field.”

Brian Young, chief human resources officer, Novanta, adds: “As a Boston-based company with technology development and manufacturing in Massachusetts, Novanta is uniquely positioned to be a leader in developing robotics talent for the region.”

Russ Graves, director of bridging innovation, MITRE, says: “MITRE is excited to join MassRobotics, Fetso, Mitsubishi Electric Automation and Novanta to accelerate and lower barriers to entry for startups with healthcare robotic solutions.”

Novanta’s commitment to the Catalyst Program also includes leaders from Celera Motion, a market-leading provider of motion control components and subsystems for OEMs serving a variety of medical and advanced industrial markets.

It will collaborate with MassRobotics and the other companies, organizations and research institutions that it works with to create new innovations across a wide spectrum of applications, especially in medical robots.

Kalpana Singh, president and general manager, Celera Motion, says: “We’re excited to be part of the Boston area’s robotics community that is leading the next wave of technology.

“Together, we are simultaneously fostering and benefiting from our area’s incredibly innovative culture. The future is very bright for our industry, and we can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish together.”

Organizing organizations are eager to find opportunities for the selected companies within their network.

Nuzha Yakoob, head of technology and innovation, Festo, says: “Being part of the catalyst program facilitates collaborations between the startup and industry partners in our network and opens up opportunities to conduct tests and trials at medical facilities in the USA.”

Juan Necochea, strategic partnerships, MassRobotics, says: “We are excited to see Festo, Mitsubishi Electric Automation, MITRE and Novanta come together to collaboratively work to support our efforts to find global disrupting applications and startups in such human-care fields like healthcare, including life science, biotech and medical devices.”