U-M Innovation Co+Lab connects students, families and health community

It’s not the typical type of “lab” you may expect at U-M.

In this lab, students and software designers meet caregivers and patient families for one goal: to design the best health technologies to help patients.

U-M’s new Lenovo + HealthDesignBy.Us Innovation Co+Lab aims to inspire and support young entrepreneurs to develop innovative health products and services. The new initiative, led by U-M’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and several campus groups, is funded by a $300,000, three-year grant from multinational technology company Lenovo.

The lab kicks off its first event on Friday, Jan. 27 with presentations featuring projects focused on health, design and technology from the local and university community. A workshop focused on augmented and virtual reality technology will introduce participants to the tools that can be used for creating patient-centered digital health applications.

Friday’s event will begin at 1 p.m. with presenters representing individuals and groups from across the campus including Mott and local startup GameStart School, as well as the Schools of Medicine, Information, Art and Design, and Engineering.

“This collaboration helps bridge the gap between designers, developers and patient families and the health community,” said Joyce Lee, M.D., M.P.H., co-leader of the Co+Lab and a pediatric endocrinologist at Mott.

“We hope to tap into the talents and skills of undergraduate and graduate students to develop practical uses of the newest technologies for patient health devices.”

Lee started HealthDesignBy.Us in collaboration with the U-M School of Information and Stamps School of Art and Design in 2014.

“Our efforts focus on creating opportunities for innovation in education, research and clinical care delivery,” Lee said.

Professor Nancy Benovich Gilby, co-leader of the Co+Lab and Ehrenberg Director of Entrepreneurship at the School of Information, said Lenovo wanted to set up an innovation lab to learn how to creatively incorporate virtual and augmented reality in new products and services in the health sector.

“It’s the next step in our entrepreneurship program,” Benovich Gilby said. “All these students are doing projects. Now we’re putting together services where students offer their skills as consultants.”

For more information, visit the event website.