About Us - Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange

Our story

Mayo Clinic began as a single-physician medical practice in Minnesota in 1864. Guided by our mission and values, we have since then become one of the largest not‐for‐profit, academic health systems, top-ranked for quality more often than any other health care organization.

With operations in five U.S. states and a growing international presence, more than one million people from all 50 U.S. states and nearly 140 countries came to Mayo Clinic for their care in the last year. We are committed to curing disease, connecting with patients where they are, and transforming how we cure.

Mayo Clinic has a history of changing the industry through innovation, and is credited with many important medical contributions. This firsthand understanding of the value of bringing new ideas to market is the reason why we established a model for innovation and collaboration with industry to drive new treatments and cures to benefit patients at scale, fast.

The impact of innovation

The research we do and the care we provide are constantly infused with new knowledge. This means we can leverage this knowledge to provide innovative treatments for serious and complex medical challenges faster, and more efficiently, than almost anywhere else.

Hundreds of millions of dollars invested annually to generate new human studies
3,800+ researchers relentlessly pursue discoveries
12,000+ human studies underway to solve the world’s most challenging and complex medical problems

Mayo Clinic staff collaborates with industry to improve patient care through research agreements, invention licenses, and consulting activities, facilitated by our technology transfer office, Mayo Clinic Ventures. This collaboration produces:

More than 500 invention ideas disclosed annually
100 new patent applications filed each year

Mayo Clinic Ventures also offers funding opportunities including early stage seed, later stage translation, and other funding from philanthropic sources.

“It is a great thing to make scientific discoveries of rare value, but it is even greater to be willing to share these discoveries and to encourage other workers in the same field of scientific research.”

– William J. Mayo, M.D.

Innovation Exchange

This brings us to the new Innovation Exchange, a membership-based platform created to further industry collaboration, accelerate commercialization, and as a way to put all of our minds together to help patients.

We launched Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange to provide internal innovators and external entrepreneurs and startups throughout the health care industry with premier medical and business insights, as well as the connections needed to bring their breakthrough innovations to market.

Benefits of membership

When startups, industry, and medical insights come together, incredible things happen. An Innovation Exchange Membership provides connections to the right people, places, and resources to accelerate breakthrough advances in health care treatments and cures.

Members have access to renowned medical insights, business services, engineering and IT consulting, and educational opportunities typically only accessible to large-scale innovation or R&D departments. And how you connect is up to you, either onsite or from anywhere in the world.

For example:

Expertise and advice from Mayo Clinic scientists and clinicians
State-of-the-art makerspace and simulation center, research studies and labs, clinical trials, licensing and funding opportunities from Mayo Clinic in Florida (and Mayo Clinic, enterprise-wide)
Funding opportunities through Mayo Clinic Venture funds, and other VCs and private investors

Business strategy consulting from Accenture
Marketing planning from Droga5
Legal advising from Holland & Knight
Student talent from Florida State University
More high-quality services through a premier resource network of business, technology and academic collaborators

Premium Resource Network

Our location and amenities

Innovation Exchange is located on the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville campus in Florida, in the Discovery and Innovation Building. Facilities are complete with co-work space, conference rooms, and makerspace to build prototypes—which has been designed and outfitted specifically for collaboration and to serve members.

In addition, wet lab and private office spaces are available for rent, contact us for availability and rates.

The Discovery and Innovation building, a 75,000 square feet facility, is shared by Lung Biotechnology PBC, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics, and holds perfusion suites to test and prepare lungs for transplantation, and stem cell regeneration and advanced bio-manufacturing facilities operated by United Therapeutics and the Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Built to minimize impact on our environment, the building has an abundance of energy-saving features such as self-tinting dynamic windows and solar panels which fully power the first floor.

Meet our leadership

Our leadership team is the driving force behind the powerful resources available through the Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange. And with extensive experience in all stages of innovation, and specific knowledge about every part of the process, our leadership team can be a valuable advisory resource itself.

Charles Bruce, M.D.

Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange

Dr. Charles Bruce serves as chief innovation officer at Mayo Clinic in Florida and medical director of Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange. He is also associate medical director for Mayo Clinic Ventures, as well as director for business development in the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Florida. He is a professor of Medicine and practicing cardiologist, a researcher, and inventor. Dr. Bruce is an accomplished innovator who has helped create five startup companies. He is named on nearly 100 technology invention disclosures and a patent inventor on more than 160 patent filings, with 34 issued patents to date. Thirty-three of his technologies have been licensed or optioned. His unique perspective into the challenges of health care delivery is shaped by his medical experiences in South Africa and the United States. He serves on the Boards of BioFlorida and SolasCure.

Jared Mueller

Director, Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange

Jared Mueller is director of Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange. He joined Mayo Clinic from the strategy team at the nonpartisan Obama Foundation. Jared previously served as acting chief operating officer for a SaaS company serving health care and social science researchers working in 165 countries. He also served as a White House appointee working on economic and entrepreneurship policy at the U.S. Small Business Administration. Jared began his career as a strategy consultant at Boston Consulting Group. He earned his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and his undergraduate degree from Duke University.

Brian Zargham

Associate Administrator of Innovation and Corporate Development

Brian Zargham serves as associate administrator of Innovation and Corporate Development at Mayo Clinic in Florida. In his role, he aims to create and explore new income generating, strategic business opportunities in both domestic and international markets. Brian began his career at Mayo Clinic as legal counsel in 2015, where he served as the lead of the Legal Department’s Contracts Specialty Team and member of the Commercial Transactions Specialty Team. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic, he practiced with the law firm of Smith, Hulsey & Busey, P.A., focusing on mergers and acquisitions in the health care space. Brian earned his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, his J.D. from University of Florida Levin College of Law, and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University.