Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub
Lead Agency: BioForward Wisconsin
State Served: Wisconsin
Region: Madison and Milwaukee-Waukesha MSAs
Core Technology Area: personalized medicine
Contact: Wendy Harris ([email protected])
Media Contact: Rissa Guffey ([email protected]) and Lisa Johnson ([email protected])
Organizational Link: https://www.bioforward.org/wisconsin-biohealth-tech-hub/
The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, led by BioForward Wisconsin, aims to position Wisconsin as a global leader in personalized medicine, an emerging healthcare approach that tailors tests, treatments, and therapies informed by a patient’s unique genetic code, medical record, and environment. Leveraging its cluster of healthcare assets and track record of commercializing medical research, this Tech Hub seeks to facilitate manufacturing coordination and data sharing, expand lab space and computing capacity, advance the field of critical genomic technology, and accelerate domestic biotech manufacturing.
The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub seeks to strengthen personalized medicine innovation and manufacturing and commercialization ecosystem in the region in three key areas: imaging/theranostics, genomics, and big data/analytics.
In July 2024, EDA recommended this Tech Hub receive grant funding of approximately $49 million to implement five projects, including:
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Creating a comprehensive, inclusive real-world data ecosystem that accelerates the biohealth product development lifecycle while utilizing national best practices to ensure secure, compliant, and ethical use of patient data;
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Deploying mobile cancer screening and healthcare referral fleets in underserved communities to deliver care to neighborhoods experiencing the highest health disparities and to ensure that new innovations and product extensions reach diverse populations;
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Employing artificial intelligence and sophisticated data techniques to streamline the clinical integration of new technologies and prepare manufacturers and supply chains for upcoming demands to drive the growth of theranostics and personalized medicine;
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Creating inclusive talent pipelines that align with employer demands and addressing the workforce challenges inherent in developing, scaling, building, and deploying new technologies; and
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Synergizing initiatives, track metrics, and share learnings to reinforce the cycle of innovation and deployment through Hub-wide leadership, project management, and fostering coordination.
To ensure that the impacts of the Tech Hubs projects benefit the entire region, the consortium is committed to providing wraparound services to people in underrepresented communities to help them get jobs in the growing biohealth sector; expand biohealth support for entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups; and engage and include organizations that serve underrepresented groups as voting members of the consortium.
Strategy Development Grant Amount: $395,550
Designee Narrative (PDF) (submitted by the designee in its Phase 2 application package)