"The gauntlet I've thrown down is I want Jefferson to be the first academic medical center where you can advance in your career based on entrepreneurism and innovation."
Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System have opened their Jefferson Accelerator Zone, a space dedicated to innovation, according to a Philadelphia Business Journal report.
The two-story, open plan JAZ doesn't occupy a large amount of space on Jefferson's "sprawling Center City campus," according to the report, but it's intended to serve as a hub for healthcare innovation among physicians, researchers, fellows, nurses and others. Jefferson will do several things supporting this, such as refining ideas with budding entrepreneurs, accessing commercial opportunities, filing copyrights, trademarks and patents, and identifying potential commercial partners, according to the report.
If you've seen ABC's "Shark Tank," the following might sound familiar: A Jefferson executive said the JAZ will host similar sessions in which innovators present their ideas. Jefferson is planning to establish a fund to invest in the businesses it helps start, but the amount of that fund has not yet been determined, according to the report. 
"Historically, Jefferson has not been very good at making innovation easy," Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, told the PBJ. "We are not alone in that among academic medical centers. [But] we've been working on it, making it clear to folks that it's a different day. This isn't your mother's Jefferson."
"The gauntlet I've thrown down," Mr. Klasko said in the report, "is I want Jefferson to be the first academic medical center where you can advance in your career based on entrepreneurism and innovation."
Mr. Klasko said the system is already in talks with several large companies about innovative partnerships, including Johnson & Johnson and Merck.