Societies that fail to invest in medical research and development, innovation, and entrepreneurship risk losing their long-term economic and public resilience. We have a moral imperative to collaborate with communities to accelerate the pace of medical innovation and introduce transformational technologies to society at faster rates. We take a socially responsible view on innovation, accounting for the human factor behind new technologies, and for those that become disrupted.

As the virus mutates and periodically presents new threats, the GCL has reaffirmed healthcare security and community healthcare resiliency organic parts of its mission. Healthcare security is ultimately local, and communities that do not develop their own defenses remain vulnerable to inevitable epidemics in a globally interconnected world. Miami is a global city, as such overexposed to these global threats, which are compounded by natural events like hurricanes, and by mosquito-borne diseases.

The Global CoCreation Lab has partnered with Safe Paths, a global organization started at MIT, that provides tracking and tracing technology to help jurisdictions reopen safely, augmenting the value of traditional tracers. It is a project led by Mayor Carlos Gimenez and supported by the GCL, MIT, Apple, Google, Mayo Clinic and others. Given Miami’s demographic profile and geostrategic positioning—a mirror for the rest of the world—this collaboration is on a path to be the model of public-private community leadership against COVID-19.

The Global Co-Creation Lab orchestrates research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship activities, within a precompetitive environment. It works with governments and the private sector for the co-creation of breakthrough technologies and innovation-driven enterprises that solve problems of importance for a specific community. These solutions can have global impact, and contribute to the creation of a network effect.

The Latin etymology for competition, competere, has roots in two words: com (come together, agree upon) and petere (to strive for, seek). At the Global CoCreation Lab, we strive to realize this meaning in a broad and inclusive way, to accelerate innovation with community and industry stakeholders in strategic partnership.

CoCreation partners:

• Provide project teams with a low cost environment to test scientific and market hypotheses.
• Can create early traction for projects and prototypes
• Can become seed investors, since they have participated in de-risking activities