Innovation Takes Center Stage at Inaugural Impact Launchpad Event

The room was buzzing before the first pitch even began. 

On a warm, summer evening in downtown Boston, more than 100 researchers, clinicians, investors, founders, students, and industry leaders gathered for the inaugural Impact Launchpad pitch competition. The event paired poster presentations with eight venture pitches from teams tackling pressing challenges in the healthcare and life science industry, while creating space for networking and collaboration across Boston’s dynamic innovation community. 

The Impact Launchpad capped off this year’s Innovate2Impact programming, led by Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) in partnership with the Auster Center for Applied Innovation and Research at Tufts, Northeastern University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who all contributed to the planning process, alongside collaboration with the New England Region Hub of the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps. International law firm Morrison Foerster graciously hosted the event at 200 Club in the center of Boston. All of these organizations share a common mission of supporting the translation of research into practical applications, which led to their collaboration in bringing this programming to life. 

Filip Čučkov, Director of the Auster Center for Applied Innovation and Research, said, “Innovate2Impact, a multi-university medical innovation initiative, aligns perfectly with the Auster Center’s mission. This program emphasizes what it takes for diverse participants to effectively collaborate in advancing early-stage solutions for complex societal challenges through transdisciplinary approaches for the public good”.

Applications for the poster session and pitch competition opened in early 2026 and drew a stronger response than organizers expected for an inaugural launch. “We were amazed at the response and the impressive health-related innovations that came our way,” said Erin Gibson, Executive Director of Tufts CTSI. “The interest alone confirms that innovators need more than just funding; they need access to information, training, and mentorship.”

From that pool of applicants, a final cohort of eight ventures emerged, spanning AI-powered neonatal monitoring, therapies targeting chemotherapy resistance, growth-adaptive pediatric implants, real-time immune cell tracking, 3D fibrosis drug discovery models, hormone-sensing biosensors, digital stroke rehab tools, and vision-saving anti-bacterial therapies – all competing for $50,000 in funding. 

In the months leading up to the event, both poster and pitch presenters put in hours of preparation – refining their messaging, rehearsing their pitches, and incorporating feedback from mentors along the way. That work showed. “Throughout the Innovate2Impact program, participants have sharpened their ability to communicate and advance their projects,” said Lisa Serrano, Senior Projects Manager of Evaluation and Continuous Improvement at Tufts CTSI. “Many shared that the connections they formed and the feedback they received were exactly what they needed to move their work forward.” 

The evening opened with poster presentations and networking before moving into the pitch competition, where attendees were welcomed by Jon Davis, MD (Tufts Medical Center), Jared Auclair, PhD (Northeastern University), and Filip Čučkov (Tufts Auster Center). A judging panel representing a wide variety of roles at MilliporeSigma, Children’s National Hospital, George Washington University, MIT, and Nucleate then evaluated the eight pitches. 

It was clear from the start that all of the pitch presenters had put their best foot forward in their effort to demonstrate the details of their individual healthcare innovations through clear, concise, and engaging presentations. After careful deliberation, the grand prize went to Camille André of Eye Care, a translational research venture developing preventative therapies for blindness caused by multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. 

“I was absolutely thrilled – and honestly, a little shocked,” André said after the evening concluded. “This Innovate2Impact award will enable critical next steps in the translation of our research toward clinical application – I am super excited about the future of Eye Care and this opportunity to move into this next phase of development!” 

Eye Care’s mission is simple: no one should lose their vision to a preventable eye infection. The team is working to develop a prophylactic eye drop that can prevent bacterial keratitis before infection takes hold, something that this additional funding will help to push towards clinical application. 

The support teams receive doesn’t end with the Impact Launchpad – all eight pitch teams will continue receiving mentorship through the Innovate2Impact program. “What impresses me most is the strength of the mentorship and network that the program provides,” André told us. “It truly feels like, at every stage of development, there is someone around the corner who can help us take the next step forward.” 

More than anything, the inaugural Impact Launchpad confirmed something organizers had anticipated: the medical device and life science innovation community in Boston is hungry for spaces and opportunities like this. Pairing rigorous science with real mentorship, funding, and a room full of peers facing similar challenges is rare – and the energy in the room, from the poster session through the final pitch, made clear how much that kind of networking is needed and wanted. 

Tufts CTSI, the Auster Center, and their sponsors are already looking ahead to building on this successful inaugural event with future installments through Innovate2Impact.