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At the forefront of healthcare innovation, Cleveland Clinic Innovations is turning caregivers’ bold ideas into life-changing solutions. As Executive Director of Investments and Ventures at Cleveland Clinic Innovations, JD Friedland plays a key role in this strategy, leading a team that transforms discoveries from hospital labs into thriving startups, licensed technologies, and strategic partnerships – all with one goal: improving patient care worldwide. Duncan Barry investigates.
Since Cleveland Clinic Innovations was founded in 2000, its mission has been to take ideas sparked by medical professionals and turn them into products, patents, companies, and beyond. Friedland oversees the Ventures team, which identifies emerging, transformational innovations originating inside and outside Cleveland Clinic. These ideas often become partnerships with companies, where Cleveland Clinic licenses technology and receives an ownership stake. Innovations also creates startup companies, licensing intellectual property to these ventures, and invests in these startups and outside companies that form strategic collaborations with Cleveland Clinic.
Friedland’s team supports each venture’s success, often serving as board members, observers or advisors. They collaborate closely with management teams to raise external capital, provide coaching, navigate challenges, and drive clinical advancement, commercial adoption, and high-value exits. “We aim to build a portfolio of solutions that can create a multiplier effect through the capital we deploy,” Friedland explains. The Innovations model generates value in multiple ways: advancing patient care, often establishing Cleveland Clinic as a customer, co-developing solutions, licensing technology, and investing in companies.
Friedland’s journey into healthcare innovation began on Wall Street as an equity research analyst covering biotechnology and medical device stocks. He later worked as an investment banker, helping companies raise capital and explore M&A alternatives, and later joined Henry Schein, a healthcare solutions company. Before coming to Cleveland Clinic, he worked at a private equity firm focused on advancing high-potential healthcare opportunities. A friend at Cleveland Clinic Innovations encouraged him to consider relocating from New York, and Friedland saw it as a chance to work at one of the leading organisations in healthcare. Collaborating with clinical leaders like Drs. Andre Machado, Frank Papay, Samir Kapadia, and Jose Navia sealed the decision. “I’m now about to celebrate my five-year anniversary, and it’s gone by in a flash,” he reflects.
Collaboration with clinical inventors and researchers is central to Innovations’ work. Engagement partners guide caregivers through submitting invention disclosures, the first step in advancing an idea into licensable intellectual property. From ideation,patenting, prototyping, preclinical and clinical data collection, to licensing, specialised teams support each stage while maintaining close contact with inventors. Some inventors remain deeply involved, like Dr. Machado, who continues to shape technologies related to deep brain stimulation for stroke. Cleveland Clinic’s intellectual property policy allows inventors to share in potential licensing economics, creating a recruitment and retention advantage for clinicians and researchers to focus on their core jobs, while working with Innovations to turn their ideas into transformational healthcare solutions.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly a “force multiplier” in clinical innovation. Cleveland Clinic has been on the forefront of utilizing AI to support its mission of being the best place to receive care and a top place to work in healthcare.. One example is Ambience’s AI platform, which documents patient appointments and generates medical notes for provider approval. the platform also creates customised after-visit summaries for patients and families, reducing administrative burden and enriching patient experience.
Friedland notes that strategic collaborations in AI are expanding rapidly, and Cleveland Clinic is focused on bringing unique value to the table, with its robust data sets, deep clinical insights and expertise. “These assets allow us to co-develop solutions that are not only cutting-edge but also deeply aligned with the needs of patients and providers,” Friedland says.
Balancing scientific rigor with business considerations is seamless at Cleveland Clinic because of its ecosystem of expert clinicians and researchers. Innovations provides intellectual property management, strategic licensing, and startup incubation support, while Cleveland Clinic researchers and clinicians offer real-world scientific insights and resources for clinical validation. “I don’t have to be the smartest bioethicist, interventional cardiologist, and orthopedic surgeon in the world. We have all those experts at Cleveland Clinic, and they help us,” Friedland says.
The most rewarding aspect of medical technology commercialisation, according to Friedland, is witnessing the impact on patients. For example, portfolio companies like Enspire DBS Therapy help stroke patients restore arm motor function through deep brain stimulation. Seeing patient outcomes firsthand reinforces the “why” behind Innovations’ work: identifying transformational opportunities that expand access, deliver better care, and enhance experiences for patients and caregivers.
MediView, a Cleveland Clinic portfolio company that uses augmented reality to aid in surgical navigation, is an example of a long-term successful collaboration. The technology behind MediView’s XR90 started with Cleveland Clinic intellectual property and enables proceduralists to visualise a patient’s anatomy in 3D augmented reality during minimally invasive procedures. Initially applied in interventional radiology, the technology now spans multiple specialties. Proximity to the company within Innovations’ incubator space fosters frequent interactions and maintains strong relationships, while investors and partners work together closely to advance the technology.
Maintaining resilience and long-term focus is achieved through structured planning. Annual retreats help align the team on strategic objectives. These meetings examine five-year goals, medium-term plans over the next 18 months to two years, and short-term annual objectives, ensuring both vision and execution remain on track. Under the leadership of Chief of Innovations Dr. Geoff Vince, the team has increased invention-to-license translations, attracted new inventors, and expanded investments in portfolio companies through data-driven processes and measurable objectives.
At its core, Cleveland Clinic Innovations exemplifies a comprehensive approach to healthcare advancement. By combining clinical insight, strategic investment, licensing expertise, and entrepreneurial rigor, the organisation transforms breakthrough ideas into tangible solutions that improve patient care around the world. Cleveland Clinic Innovations’ work demonstrates how one institution can leverage its expertise, partnerships, and capital to shape the future of medicine – one breakthrough at a time.
“The work we do at Cleveland Clinic Innovations really speaks to all of Cleveland Clinic’s values – serve with heart, succeed as one team, and shape the future”, says Friedland. “Ultimately, we’re identifying transformational opportunities that are going to expand access, deliver better care, create a better experience for patients and caregivers, and bring the best possible care to the greatest number of people. That’s incredibly rewarding.
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