FFMI Director
Welcome to Fast Forward Medical Innovation (FFMI). Our mission at FFMI is to make biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship a natural academic behavior that speeds our University’s ability to move great ideas to patient impact. As such, FFMI provides a front door for accessing and navigating the rich biomedical innovation ecosystem at the University of Michigan for our faculty, trainees, and students, as well as industry partners.
Realizing that innovation is more complex than just that “Aha moment,” we have developed unique and integrative programs that span idea funding, mentorship, innovation-commercialization education, and business development activities with industry that help our talented and dedicated researchers accelerate and transition their discoveries onto viable commercialization paths. We also work to understand industry needs and seek opportunities to develop strategic research and development partnerships that bring long-term added value. The spectrum of these activities is resulting in the Fast Forwarding of the development of the next generation of devices, therapeutics, diagnostics, digital health, and most importantly – innovators!
As you can see in our 2022 Annual Report, the University of Michigan is a research powerhouse and among the top five public universities in research spending in the United States. Our uniquely integrated programs are force multipliers that contribute to these results and are driven by a collaborative and team culture where breakthrough research thrives in the shared pursuit of innovative science, successful entrepreneurship, and improved patient care. Our partnerships across the U-M campus, as well as with the State of Michigan through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, are allowing FFMI to serve as an Innovation Hub and partner to many of the other great universities and health systems throughout the state, making the whole much greater than the simple sum of its parts.
Whether you’re a student, faculty, potential collaborator, or industry partner, we urge you to connect with a Fast Forward Medical Innovation program or team member to find your path to groundbreaking innovation. We look forward to partnering with you!
