{"674932":{"#nid":"674932","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Nakia Melecio to Lead Innovation Lab Effort at Enterprise Innovation Institute","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMelecio, who has also served as the deep tech catalyst in the Enterprise Innovation Institute\u2019s ATDC startup incubator, will lead Innovation Lab, which encompasses new business development efforts in life sciences and biosciences. The Innovation Lab initiative centers on three core activities:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGrow healthcare research, innovation, and workforce development practice.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExpand\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/global.innovate.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEI2 Global\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0027s international footprint.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESupport\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/venturelab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVentureLab\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0027s National Science Foundation I-Corps activities.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNakia has been instrumental in helping to expand Georgia\u2019s life sciences community and ecosystem,\u201d said David Bridges, vice president of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech\u2019s chief economic development arm. \u201cLeading Innovation Lab already builds on a foundation he created since joining us in 2019 and further supports our broad economic development mission.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe\u0027s already leading in the healthcare research practice expansion with his work in the MedTech Center and\u0026nbsp;running the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scaleuplab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EScaleUp Lab Program\u003C\/a\u003E for deep tech innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnder Melecio\u2019s leadership as founding director, the MedTech Center, which has the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Global Center for Medical Innovation as partners, has worked with and evaluated the innovations of more than 200 companies. Since launching in 2021, the MedTech Center\u2019s 66 active startups have raised $13.1 million in investment capital and an additional $6.4 million in federal, non-dilutive funding grants.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2023, the MedTech Center was selected to join the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/center-for-medtech-excellence-named-inaugural-member-of-arpa-h-investor-catalyst-hub-spoke-network\/\u0022\u003EAdvanced Research Projects Agency for Health\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s ARPA-H Investor Catalyst Hub to accelerate the commercialization of practical, accessible biomedical solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe is supporting Georgia Tech\u2019s efforts to collaborate with Atlanta University Center schools \u2014\u0026nbsp;Spelman College, Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine \u2014 to collaborate with those minority-serving institutions as they build out capacity for their scientists and researchers to create more life sciences technology companies, following an award from the Economic Development Administration.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESimilarly, Melecio is working with the University of Alabama at Birmingham on a collaborative project in biologics and medical devices to move more of its researchers\u2019 innovations out of the lab and into commercial markets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs Innovation Lab lead, Melecio, who has secured more than $5.76 million in federal grants and awards to Georgia Tech,\u0026nbsp;will also work to develop biomanufacturing partnerships for Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith EI2 Global, the Enterprise Innovation Institute\u2019s program that fosters economic opportunity through collaborations with universities, innovators, governments, and nonprofit organizations worldwide, Melecio will serve as an instructor on Lab-to-Market and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/11\/ei2-kicks-programming-colombia-create-x\u0022\u003ECREATE-X programming\u003C\/a\u003E for entrepreneurs. He will also create and provide educational content for EI2 Global\u2019s university and ecosystem partners.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECloser to home, his Innovation Lab work includes ongoing projects as a principal in VentureLab, a program of Georgia Tech\u2019s Office of Commercialization. In that capacity, he will work on VentureLab\u2019s National Science Foundation-related Innovation Corps (I-Corps) programming. Those efforts, overseen by Commercialization Vice President\u0026nbsp;Raghupathy \u0022Siva\u0022 Sivakumar,\u0026nbsp;include the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icorpshubacademy.org\/\u0022\u003ENSF I-Corps Hub Academy\u003C\/a\u003E, where Melecio will serve as director.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur efforts with Innovation Lab are centered around finding new opportunities, new markets, and new industries by leveraging our areas of expertise at the Enterprise Innovation Institute and Georgia Tech to build economic development capacity in the life sciences and biosciences space,\u201d Melecio said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re looking to take a broader perspective, away from being hyper-focused in one or two niche areas in life sciences, to ensure that we maximize opportunities to support new ideas, build stronger practice areas in this space, and secure funding to bring those innovations to scale.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENakia Melecio, senior extension professional and director of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/medtech.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter for MedTech Excellence\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EEnterprise Innovation Institute\u003C\/a\u003E, will lead a new effort focused on economic development support for life sciences companies and bioscience commercialization and ecosystem building.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Melecio will focus on economic development for life sciences and biosciences."}],"uid":"28137","created_gmt":"2024-05-29 17:16:29","changed_gmt":"2024-05-29 17:26:54","author":"P\u00e9ralte Paul","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674086":{"id":"674086","type":"image","title":"Nakia Melecio - Enterprise Innovation Institute","body":"\u003Cp\u003ENakia Melecio head\u0027s Innovation Lab at Georgia Tech\u0027s Enterprise Innovation Institute. (PHOTO: P\u00e9ralte Paul)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1717003327","gmt_created":"2024-05-29 17:22:07","changed":"1717768298","gmt_changed":"2024-06-07 13:51:38","alt":"Headshot of Nakia Melecio","file":{"fid":"257556","name":"Nakia-Melecio.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/29\/Nakia-Melecio.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/29\/Nakia-Melecio.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":176811,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/29\/Nakia-Melecio.jpg?itok=qLO8AQZo"}}},"media_ids":["674086"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"7043","name":"biosciences"},{"id":"5153","name":"Life Sciences"},{"id":"815","name":"economic development"},{"id":"193760","name":"Innovation Lab"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"193761","name":"Nakia Melecio"},{"id":"3671","name":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"},{"id":"2579","name":"commercialization"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"106361","name":"Business and Economic Development"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EP\u00e9ralte C. Paul\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:peralte@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eperalte@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E404.316.1210\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["peralte@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}