TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 6 7 nine to 12 months. Five years ago, the average for doing the same thing was between 18 to 24 months," he said. "The world is moving faster around us. We want to work on ideation for 12 weeks, where in that time we will create a prototype and hand it over to the company." That also means that within a year after opening the Foundry in Houston, AT&T expects to be well- established in terms of projects, including extending the perimeters of hospitals, mobile experience, nurs- ing and aging, Elbaz said. It would also like to have evaluated the local venture capital ecosystem, have a good understanding of what is going on and built relationships with hospitals. "We are really excited to be in the Texas Medical Center," Elbaz said. "What TMC has done is encour- aging and inspiring, and I really believe this is the future of collaboration. This is how business will be conducted over time—really hands-on collaboration between enterprise, third parties and customers. I look forward to this." hospital to home, and help providers take better care of their patients. "Just being housed on Texas Medical Center's campus will likely spark tremendous collaboration," Penrose said. "TMC has cutting-edge research and resources, including doctors, hospitals, schools and research institutions, covering nearly every aspect of the medical industry. "We really admire TMC's model for the Innovation Institute, using their research and resources together with key players in the market to guide innovators. We look forward to bringing innovators into our Foundry and using our skills, platforms and resources to scale up and bring new ideas to market." Including the new digital health Foundry, AT&T has six innovation centers. All have the same goal of collaborative engineering, small teams, rapid prototyp- ing, cutting-edge solutions and working with startups, Elbaz explained. What sets the Houston Foundry apart is that it is close to the customer, in this case hospitals, and work will be done around that vertical domain of digital health, he added. "AT&T would like to bring ideas to market within When the company decided to enter the health care market, collaborating with the Texas Medical Center to put the digital health Foundry within the TMC Innovation Institute made sense from a timing, location and collaboration perspective, Elbaz said. Why? "That's easy—it's the largest medical center in the world and very innovative from a research and health perspective," he added. "Also, and just as important, if you start building a solution following a vertical, you want to be close to the people who might use that solution. The Texas Medical Center is close to those potential users." In addition, the Texas Medical Center has the TMCx Accelerator, which AT&T thought fit its goal of working with startups and enterprises like Johnson & Johnson Innovation's JLABS @ TMC. "All that collaboration between enterprises, disrupters, designers and hospitals makes complete sense for us to choose Texas Medical Center as the place to do all of this," Elbaz added. "The aim for the AT&T Foundry for Connected Health is to be a space of collaboration and problem solving, where the company can help transform health care by connecting the digital ecosystem," said Chris Penrose, senior vice president of IoT solutions for AT&T. In addition, he sees the Foundry driving exciting innovations that help fill gaps in the industry, from What TMC has done is encouraging and inspiring, and I really believe this is the future of collaboration. — IGAL ELBAZ Vice President of Ecosystem and Innovation for AT&T Services Inc. Left: Chris Penrose sits among the clinical section, which includes a hospital bed and monitoring equipment. Right: Igal Elbaz in the living room section of the home area.

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