Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across healthcare have faced the challenge of retooling and pivoting their solutions to focus on the fight against COVID-19. But for MATTER startup physIQ, no pivoting, revising or overhauling was necessary: The company’s predictive analytics technologies were already uniquely suited to meet several of the needs and use cases of COVID-19 — and ready to deploy.

Posted: Friday, August 14, 2020

In mid-March, the world of work changed abruptly for most across Chicagoland. The COVID-19 shelter-in-place measures led to an abrupt shift to remote working which has tested many organizations. The right culture—a culture that embraces change, recognizes the new challenges facing employees and encourages them to take the initiative, do things differently and more effectively—can support this shift, easing the transition and driving productivity.

Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2020

mHUB member, Neopenda, is a Chicago startup that is evolving health tech in markets that need it the most with its revolutionary product neoGuard.

Posted: Thursday, August 6, 2020

Proxfinity, an 1871 and mHUB Alumni Company, is pivoting its event networking technology to focus on safely returning to the work environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Join companies like Proxfinity, mHUB, MATTER, and 1871 and pivot for change.

Posted: Tuesday, July 28, 2020

The Chicago Proactive Response: COVID-19 (CPR) initiative was formed to leveraging technology in response to the pandemic. The communities within mHUB, MATTER, and 1871 are coming together to use their resources and expertise to mobilize the tech ecosystem within Chicago to fight COVID-19 head on.

Posted: Thursday, July 23, 2020

Among companies already moving us in that direction: mHUB, a product startup incubator, Azul 3D, with leading 3D printers, and Fusion OEM, with robots that operate alongside humans.

Posted: Friday, July 17, 2020

Taking the lens of an employee’s journey, leaders have made decisions and found solutions that can serve as a foundation for others preparing to bring employees, visitors, and customers safely both physically and psychologically back to the workplace.

Posted: Thursday, July 2, 2020

Entrepreneurs and engineers at mHUB have come together to pivot their focus onto creating new solutions for PPE and medical equipment. They are leveraging readily available and low-cost materials that can be developed quickly in the immediate fight against COVID-19. Pivot for a cause. Join the fight.

Posted: Monday, June 15, 2020

mHUB, MATTER and 1871 announced today $1.55M in funding for Chicago Proactive Response (CPR) COVID-19, a collaborative initiative to develop and accelerate technologies to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic and provide economic relief for the region’s early stage startups. The funding comes through a $1M grant from the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust, along with additional support from the Walder Foundation and Bank of America.

Posted: Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Over the last few weeks, we have hosted private roundtables for a number of health systems around the country. Eyal Zimilchman, deputy director, chief medical officer and chief innovation officer of Sheba Medical Center, joined us for a recent conversation.

Posted: Friday, May 15, 2020

Less than two weeks after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and one week after California became the first state in the U.S. to tell residents to stay home — MATTER startup member Clearstep and MATTER partner BayCare launched an online COVID-19 symptom screener.

Posted: Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Across the country, companies and entrepreneurs are pivoting to develop and accelerate technologies to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. In March, we put out an open call in collaboration with 1871 and MATTER to rally the tech ecosystem around fighting Coronavirus. The energy and enthusiasm we've seen in response is inspiring and we're continuing to talk to entrepreneurs, front line experts, civic leaders and influencers every day to accelerate the development of life-saving technology. See below for a list of new products and existing technology from mHUB with direct application to challenges posed by the pandemic.

Posted: Thursday, April 30, 2020

Workers on the front lines, essential agents in the fight against the ravaging effects of COVID-19, need to protect themselves so that they can continue to treat the ill and infirm. With a shortage of equipment for doing just that, anxiety about the fallout shot through Chicago’s healthcare community. Leaders in Chicago’s entrepreneurial world didn’t stand by idly.

Posted: Monday, April 27, 2020

Betsy Ziegler is the CEO of 1871, which is the #1 Private incubator in the world. They are home to ~400+ early-stage, high growth digital startups and count 670 alumni still operating. Recently they announced a partnership with mHUB, the world's fastest-growing physical product innovation center in the nation, and MATTER, Chicago's healthcare incubator, & accelerator, to seek solutions to combat the COVID -19 pandemic.

Posted: Friday, April 17, 2020

The PPE shortage is one of the most immediate threats to those on the clinical frontlines in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Rheaply, an 1871 Alumni Company, has created ERx, the Emergency Resource Exchange platform, to connect those who need supplies to those who have them. The goal is to move fast, come together, and support our frontline heroes.

Posted: Thursday, April 16, 2020

In some cases, hospitals are reaching out directly. Haven Allen is the CEO and co-founder of MHub, a non-profit manufacturing firm that after shutting down its 63,000-square-foot facility last month, is now using its equipment, materials and idle engineers to help Chicago-area hospitals get supplies.

Posted: Friday, April 10, 2020

Across the world, the “new normal” created by COVID-19 has caused a ripple effect for mental health. Digital mental health startup and MATTER member, Sentio Solutions, is doing their part to ensure that everyone gets the mental health care they need.

Posted: Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Many MATTER member companies are developing solutions for the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is a growing list of companies who are changing retooling, accelerating, and providing to get ahead of this pandemic.

Posted: Friday, April 3, 2020

mHUB has pulled together a team of engineers and entrepreneurs to develop low-cost solutions to quickly increase the supply of ventilators. These solutions will include both hardware and software technologies. There is an open call to medical partners, local hospitals and greater community for problem statements and challenges around prototyping and manufacturing new technologies to support patient care, testing and worker safety. Submit problem statements or ideas >>

Posted: Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Entrepreneurs working to develop low-cost, efficient and quickly scaleable solutions for vital medical devices and personal protective equipment launch GoFundMe to support efforts. Funds will be used to purchase individual components like hoses, pumps, and filters and activate 3D printing facilities to print custom components.

Posted: Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Over one weekend, mHUB began working on a prototype for face shields to respond to a request from Northwestern. The team had a working prototype within 2 hours – and pilots in hospital by Monday. A week later, the first shipment of 500 was in the hands of frontline healthcare workers at Northwestern.

Posted: Tuesday, March 31, 2020

As COVID-19 continues to spread, health systems are racing to ramp up their innovation efforts. Following are three key areas where health system innovation leaders are focusing.

Posted: Monday, March 30, 2020

As the coronavirus has completely upended “business as usual,” Chicago-based companies are coming up with ways to innovate and offer customer-oriented solutions. After all, this is a time, if any, to bring something new to the table, and we’re seeing it happen in real-time across multiple industries, from technology and health and wellness to food and beverage, supply chain, and beyond. I recently reached out to my network to see what they’re doing to adapt — or better yet make a difference — during these uncertain times.

Posted: Friday, March 27, 2020

Chicago tech hubs and accelerators are coming together to find ways to fight the ongoing coronavirus crisis. mHUB, MATTER and 1871 revealed a website this week that’s aimed at recruiting ideas to fight the illness. The organizations said they plan to tap into their networks of industry experts, entrepreneurs and software developers to source ideas, including local companies like Jiobit, Impossible Objects and Manufacturing x Digital. The site also makes an open call for solutions from health officials, policy makers, advocates and other administrators.

Posted: Friday, March 20, 2020

Chicago’s leading innovation centers, mHUB, MATTER and 1871, are collaborating to mobilize the technology ecosystem around designing solutions that can directly support in the fight against COVID-19. The communities’ network of entrepreneurs, software developers, engineers, designers and industry experts provides a rich talent pool that can facilitate fast, new responses to front-line challenges affecting our populations. A website, seeking open calls for solutions from health officials, policy makers, advocates and other administrators, along with opportunities for innovators to share their solutions, is now live at CPR-Covid19.com.

Posted: Wednesday, March 18, 2020