Surgeons, Medtech Companies and Startups Join Forces to Drive Innovation

Hospital leaders need more than promising medical devices. They need to understand how those tools will work together in the operating room — and how to prepare clinicians to use them.

At IRCAD North America in Charlotte, North Carolina, surgeons, medical technology companies and startups are exploring these questions together. The surgical education center combines hands-on training with device development and testing, offering hospital leaders a look at how partnerships can bring innovation closer to clinical practice.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Charlotte-based Advocate Health, IRCAD NA opened in September 2025. Its partners include Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Siemens Healthineers, Johnson & Johnson and Stryker.

"Together with our partners, from medtech companies to professional societies to startups, we've created an ecosystem of innovation at IRCAD North America," Dionisios Vrochides, M.D., Ph.D., executive director of IRCAD NA and professor of transplant surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said in an email to Market Scan. "In just our first year of operations, we've seen a rate of growth that promises to change the future of surgical technology and education."

Understanding How Technologies Work Together

One useful feature of the model is the opportunity to train with technologies from multiple manufacturers. Hospitals use equipment from different vendors, and the center gives clinicians a setting to explore how those devices can work together during surgical procedures.

Chad Evans, a vice president at Stryker, told Modern Healthcare that participating vendors have used one another’s technology for training when they are not in direct competition.

“We don’t all do everything; we are complementary to each other,” Manny Niebla, senior vice president and head of marketing, sales operations and communications at Siemens Healthineers, told the publication.

For hospital leaders, that approach offers a way to think about technology evaluation and training: Consider how a device fits into the broader clinical environment, alongside the other tools a surgical team uses.

Connecting Innovation to Clinical Practice

The center also brings together surgeons from different specialties to observe and learn from one another. These exchanges can spark ideas for new technologies and surgical methods, while connecting developers with clinicians who understand the demands of patient care.

Startups are part of that work. A committee and relevant specialty groups evaluate companies for support, and IRCAD NA reports that it has supported 27 medtech startups. Its development resources include an incubator, an accelerator and support for scaling products.

The institute is located in The Pearl innovation district, which also houses the Charlotte campus of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. That setting places surgical education, research and technology development near one another.

The Bottom Line

In its first year, IRCAD NA reports welcoming 7,986 health care professionals for training and hosting 249 events, including educational courses, research and development activities, and industry and professional society programs.

For hospitals exploring their own innovation partnerships, the model suggests several priorities:

• Give clinicians a role in shaping development.
• Create opportunities to evaluate technologies together.
• Connect training with the tools teams will use in practice.

At IRCAD NA, these partnerships bring device development, surgical training and clinical experience into the same setting, giving clinicians and manufacturers opportunities to explore how technologies work together in practice.