AcceLinx Launched to Fuel Warsaw Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs in Warsaw, Indiana will soon have an additional resource to assist in the development and launch of new medical devices. OrthoWorx, a community-based organization that works with the local Warsaw orthopaedic industry, revealed the new initiative, AcceLinx.

AcceLinx was developed with the understanding that innovation in orthopaedics has become more complex, and the timeline from concept to market has extended to six or more years due to regulatory and reimbursement scrutiny. Selected entrepreneurs will have access to strategic resources, guidance and technical and production support from in-house AcceLinx experts, as well as partnering companies.

The initiative also serves the needs of Warsaw’s established orthopaedic companies. OrthoWorx noted that large companies like DePuy Synthes and Zimmer Biomet (both founded in Warsaw) tend to acquire technologies and companies that are further along in the development cycle and have proved the regulatory pathway, clinical performance and commercial potential. AcceLinx will serve as an engine to get technologies and companies to the desirable acquisition phase, and has potential to fuel a product and personnel pipeline for orthopaedic companies of all sizes.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation pledged up to $1.2 million over six years in funding to establish and operate AcceLinx. The City of Warsaw committed $500,000 in funding to the initiative. An additional $4.8 million is needed to fund the initiative’s operational budget for the next six years.

Though a separate entity of OrthoWorx, AcceLinx will initially be housed within the OrthoWorx office until a team and physical location are established. Future announcements will be made on how entrepreneurs will be selected.

Sheryl Conley, OrthoWorx President and CEO, called out the late Dane A. Miller, Ph.D., founder of Biomet, as one community leader who inspired the initiative.

“With inspiration and encouragement from the late Dr. Dane Miller and other community leaders, we conceived and developed the AcceLinx initiative to capitalize on the unprecedented concentration of intellectual capital and device industry experience in northern Indiana,” Conley says. “Regional industry and service providers offer nearly any capability required by an entrepreneur to advance his or her business plan. The concentration of suppliers and access to human capital for advice and guidance is unmatched.”

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