A Successful Corporate Innovation Effort in HealthcareIT: Bruce Johnson, CEO of GHX (Part 1)

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Bruce Johnson is the CEO and president of GHX, the world’s largest electronic trading exchange for healthcare. Prior to being named CEO in 2007, Johnson served as the company’s chief operating officer, with previous responsibilities at GHX including the leadership of business development, professional services, sales, marketing and corporate communications. Before joining GHX, Johnson spent 12 years at GE Healthcare in a variety of management roles in sales and marketing. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and his master’s in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Sramana: Bruce, let’s start by reviewing your personal background. Where do you come from? What is the genesis of your professional career journey?

Bruce Johnson: I grew up in the Midwest and have a background in electrical engineering. I grew up in Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska. After graduation I joined General Electric where I worked in various sales and marketing roles in the GE Healthcare business. I worked there for 12 years before joining GHX in 2000. That was at the height of the Internet craze and so myself and a handful of other GE employees started the company in 2000. I worked in sales and marketing roles until I became the COO in 2006. In 2007 I was named the CEO. >>>

1M/1M Facilitating Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Of late, you have seen a lot of corporate partnership announcements from 1M/1M, and you will be seeing many more as we go along. I want to provide an overview of our experience working with various corporate partners, and some of the thinking behind these partnerships.

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Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Jim Stikeleather, Chief Innovation Officer, Dell (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: I think of a well-articulated framework in the picture. Let’s go into more detail on it. Where are you as Dell, as an organization, along that continuum? How much of that very specialized SARS application, procurement, or positioning is happening in different parts of your organization, and how is it managing that inflow of diverse application, integrating them, and keeping all that intrusion of new functionality from different parts of the organization into IT? >>>

Business Incubator Series: Bruce Wright And Molly Gilbert, Arizona Center for Innovation – Tucson (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Bruce: Medipacs [one of the incubator’s success stories] is a very low cost,  highly reliable infusion pump. The inventor is a man named Mark Banister.

Medipacs pumps could be produced at a fraction of the cost of the current pumps available on the market. The pumps could be used for three or four days, and then they’re disposable. They also allow for continuous monitoring of the medication being administered. They have a number of cool applications. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Stephen Fleming, Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech – Atlanta (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Stephen: One of the larger donors to Georgia Tech Edison Fund is the Charles Edison Fund. That is the fund that was set up by the son of Thomas Edison. They allow us to use the Thomas Edison name. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Stephen Fleming, Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech – Atlanta (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: On average, how long does a company stay in your incubator?

Stephen: It’s all over the map. The life science companies take longer. We actually don’t have a time horizon in mind for our life science companies. They’re so dependent on the underlying science and the regulatory approval process. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Stephen Fleming, Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech – Atlanta (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to Stephen Fleming, who is a vice president at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where he is currently overseeing the Enterprise Innovation Institute.

The institute is focused on helping enterprises improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology, and innovation. During fiscal year 2009, among other projects, the institute evaluated 149 Georgia Tech innovations and formed 20 new companies based on this intellectual property; the startups that were founded based on Georgia Tech intellectual property attracted nearly $111 million in investment. The institute also assisted 44 startup technology companies through its incubator, Advanced Technology Development Center, and ATDC companies attracted $151 million in capital activity through venture capital investment and M&As. >>>

An Interview With Danny Robinson, CEO, British Columbia Innovation Council (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: You fund programs and events but you don’t directly invest in companies, right?

Danny: Yes. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to do that. >>>