DreamIt Ventures partners with Children’s Hospital on spinout startups

DreamIt Ventures‘ latest project? Helping big organizations innovate.

The early-stage high tech accelerator launched OpenCanvas, a program that searches for startups within large organizations and places them in DreamIt’s accelerator. Look at it as an innovative spin on tech transfer, the process by which universities and research institutions commercialize on research done in-house.

“These organizations don’t have the organizational structure to innovate in-house,” said DreamIt partner Steve Welch, who is running OpenCanvas.

Following a pilot program in Austin, Tex., OpenCanvas is launching in Philadelphia with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, according to a release. DreamIt will choose two CHOP startups to participate in DreamIt Health Philadelphia. On CHOP’s part, it’s an effort to diversify revenue streams, according to a release.

Both CHOP and DreamIt Ventures will take equity from the participating startups, Welch said, adding that the hope is to repeat the program with different large institutions.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has recently amped up its innovation efforts, launching a partnership with Osage University Partners to increase investment behind its spinout companies and investing $50 million in spinout company Spark Therapeutics.