Texas Health Catalyst
Supporting the translation of promising ideas to products that improve health.
Texas Health Catalyst provides researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs customized guidance on product development from industry and clinical experts — as well as milestone-based seed funding.
About the Program
Early stage ideas and discoveries have the potential for profound impact, but translating innovations into health products is often expensive, time-consuming and complex. To give cutting-edge ideas a better chance of impacting health outcomes, Texas Health Catalyst leverages The University of Texas at Austin’s world-class academic research, Dell Medical School’s clinical enterprise and Central Texas’ innovative environment to identify and accelerate promising research.
Texas Health Catalyst’s network includes clinical, scientific, regulatory and commercialization experts, as well as seasoned industry leaders and investors. The program supports innovation across all health care sectors, including therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices and digital health products.
Benefits at a Glance
Texas Health Catalyst’s network of experts — in clinical workflow, business, funding, intellectual property, regulatory, reimbursement and strategy — and access to a future-facing clinical environment allow the program to match teams to mentors with the right skill sets to help improve clinical and commercial viability.
Additionally, Texas Health Catalyst aims to provide opportunities for experts to stay up to date on nascent and novel research and to network with a cross-sector community of professionals with common health care and research interests.
Texas Health Catalyst leverages relationships with entrepreneurial and corporate partners to facilitate research collaborations, industry-sponsored projects and other commercialization partnerships.
The program offers engagement opportunities for industry partners looking to gain access to pioneering research and future health care trends. Through the program, companies gain a quick introduction to Dell Med’s unique capabilities and explore partnerships, including co-development of new tools, clinical validation studies and health outcomes research.
Texas Health Catalyst provides awardees up to $50,000 in strategic seed funding. The program also increases chances of follow-on funding. During the post-award phase, the program connects projects with potential funding sources through private investor networks, foundations and grants.
Texas Health Catalyst showcases projects through Dell Medical School media, newsletters and events such as the annual Texas Health Catalyst Showcase. Teams also have access to exclusive networking opportunities with the Central Texas business ecosystem.
Many past awardees have achieved major milestones since participating in Texas Health Catalyst, including company spinouts, significant funding from investors, corporate partnerships and clinical implementation.
The program aids investigators in their customer discovery process through collaboration with UT’s Discovery to Impact, the regional iCorps program, the Austin Technology Incubator and others. Texas Health Catalyst supports researchers interested in spinning out their technologies into startups by providing resources for startup formation and early fundraising through small-business grants.
Call for Proposals
Texas Health Catalyst’s application process works to identify promising health and life sciences innovations and propel them toward real-world impact. The spring application cycle offers an exciting theme for UT innovators: the Patient-Centered Hospital of the Future Challenge.
Student Associate Program
Texas Health Catalyst also offers UT undergraduate and graduate students a semesterlong experiential learning opportunity in which they learn about health care technology commercialization, industry research and more.