24 hospitals, health systems that launched innovation centers in 2021 

Becker's reported on 24 hospitals and health systems that opened or announced plans to establish new centers focused on healthcare innovation in 2021. 

Editor's note: This is not an exhaustive list.

  1. Cleveland Clinic in January said it plans to launch a new infectious disease research center through the new $500 million Cleveland Innovation District backed by the state of Ohio and JobsOhio. The health system in March also partnered with IBM to create a healthcare artificial intelligence discovery center. 
  2. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's joint biological innovation center secured $76 million and signed a lease for a new facility in Watertown, Mass., in January. Both schools are based in Cambridge, Mass.
  3. In February, University of California Irvine established the Institute for Future Health, a new innovation center focused on personalizing the healthcare model with consumer technologies including wearables and mobile phones.
  4. Little Rock, Ark.-based Baptist Health and Mercy Fort Smith invested $1 million in a healthcare sciences innovation center for students in the Fort Smith, Ark., area.
  5. Washington, D.C.-based Children's National Hospital, Blacksburg-based Virginia Tech and Johnson & Johnson Innovation partnered in March to launch a new healthcare technology and research innovation campus. 
  6. Wellstar Health System in Marietta, Ga., in May launched a new digital health and innovation center focused on initiatives to improve health equity, aging and children, and sustainability. 
  7. The Duke Clinical Research Institute, part of Durham, N.C.-based Duke University School of Medicine, created the Digital Measures Evaluation Center in June for exploring and evaluating digital health measures and technologies. 
  8. Greenville, S.C.-based Prisma Health entered a 10-year strategic partnership with Siemens Healthineers in June focused on scaling healthcare innovation, improving workforce development and launching a joint intelligence center.
  9. Penn Medicine launched a new health informatics center that will focus on health data projects across the Philadelphia-based health system's innovation and information services departments, the health system said in July.
  10. Verily, the healthcare and life sciences sister company of Google, said in August it is launching a new artificial intelligence research and development center in Israel.
  11. In August, Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine announced it is teaming up with three other providers to establish a new center for researching and developing wearable devices that help providers collect health data from patients remotely.
  12. In September, UC San Diego Health established an innovation center to focus on improving virtual visit experiences for patients and integrating remote monitoring technologies within treatment plans, among other initiatives.
  13. University of California Irvine is working on a 200,000-square-foot medical innovation building that will contain teaching space and laboratories to advance research in the health sciences. In recognition of a $30 million gift from the Falling Leaves Foundation, the building will be named the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building.
  14. In September, Washington, D.C.-based Children's National Hospital announced it is building a research and innovation campus. The innovation hub will focus on finding new treatments for a range of children's health issues.
  15. Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University launched the Jefferson Center for Connected Care in September. The center's mission is to minimize the digital divide that can exacerbate existing health inequities by focusing on research, innovation and education to overcome barriers to digital access.
  16. Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health is seeking $100 million in funding to build an innovation district that will surround its future medical school, Wake Forest School of Medicine. The plans for the medical school and innovation district were announced in September.
  17. Amazon Web Services, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and other pharmacy and biotech leaders partnered to launch AION Labs in October, an innovative drug research project with a $9.9 million budget. The lab will produce artificial intelligence and computational ventures to develop new pharmaceutical therapies. Rehovot, Israel, has been selected as its international headquarters.
  18. Two New Jersey hospitals — Edison-based Hackensack Meridian and West Orange-based RWJBarnabas — and two of the state's schools — Princeton University and New Brunswick-based Rutgers University — broke ground on a hub for research, innovation and medical education in October.
  19. SciTech Scity, a science and technology innovation campus in Jersey City, N.J., is teaming up with Sheba Medical Center, the largest hospital in Israel, to launch a simulation facility focused on the future of digital health and hospitals in Jersey City, the organizations said in October. 
  20. In October, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City launched a department focused on advancing artificial intelligence in healthcare.
  21. In October, Charleston-based Medical University of South Carolina and Clemson (S.C.) University partnered to launch an artificial intelligence innovation hub. The hub will feature AI experts and an augmentation grant program to invest in interdisciplinary research. 
  22. Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare in November established a data science and artificial intelligence center of excellence. The center's goal is to set ethical AI standards, improve the quality and affordability of care, identify disparities, and refine the patient experience.
  23. UMass Amherst, Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital and Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital are partnering to develop the Massachusetts artificial intelligence and technology center for connected care in aging and Alzheimer's disease, they announced in November.
  24. In November, Sacramento, Calif.-based UC Davis Health announced it is looking to improve digital health innovation and equity through launching a cloud innovation center powered by Amazon Web Services.

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