New Opportunities for NJ Tech Startups in Real Estate, Healthcare IT
Realogy Holding Corp. said it would host its first Realogy FWD Innovation Summit on June 18, 2013. The summit will take place at the company’s new Madison headquarters. Realogy will offer a $25,000 cash prize to the emerging technology company that presents the most innovative technology product or service designed for the real estate industry.
“The intent of the Realogy FWD Innovation Summit is to provide innovators the opportunity to showcase their big ideas directly to the leaders across the Realogy family of companies, bypassing the time it typically takes them to get their ideas to the decision makers,” said Alex Perriello, president and CEO of Realogy Franchise Group.
The invitation-only event is designed to find the best new technology products and services for Realogy’s franchise networks and company-owned real estate brokerages. The chosen startups will present to judges and a select audience of executives and franchisees.
Realogy says it is looking for innovative products in the areas of “productivity, marketing, social and consumer. … From among the category winners, one company will be crowned as the 2013 Realogy FWD Innovation Champion and will receive the Realogy FWD Innovation prize of $25,000. The other category winners will be recognized as Realogy FWD Innovation Summit finalists,” said a company statement.
Realogy seeks startups that have a fully functional technology offering for real estate. They may have “raised some money, but you’re new, on the rise and bringing something extraordinary to market,” Realogy says on its website.
In addition to presenting their ideas, “each of the companies selected to participate in the exclusive event will be able to tap into the vast Realogy network of real estate leaders,” the statement continued. Companies should apply online through the event website. The deadline for applications is May 15, 2013.
Tigerlabs (Princeton) is offering another sort of option to healthcare entrepreneurs. The accelerator said it had formed Tigerlabs Health Innovation Track, which matches innovative healthcare IT startup companies with the needs of participating healthcare organizations. The company is teaming with Merck Global Health Innovation (GHI) (Whitehouse Station) and New York-Presbyterian Hospital (New York) to identify startups whose ideas aim to solve the specific problems the organizations face.
GHI seeks to address the impact of health technology, specifically big data, on healthcare. New York-Presbyterian Hospital wants to identify new IT solutions that can help bring about positive changes in the way healthcare is delivered.
Companies that offer solutions to such problems will be selected and offered entrepreneur-in-residence status, which includes onsite access to facilities and to internal innovation teams for collaborating on and refining ideas. In addition, they will be guaranteed the ability to pilot their products to accelerate time to market. Applications for Tigerlabs Health Innovation Track can be found here. The application deadline is July 2, 2013.
Tigerlabs said its location in the heart of the N.J. pharmaceutical corridor makes it ideally suited to usher in “a new culture of innovation” in the healthcare IT sector.
The way this pilot program is organized is a departure from common practice. Rather than being mentored within the walls of an incubator or accelerator, participants will be placed in the facilities of participating organizations and develop their solutions to criteria and specifications based on their individual needs.
