As my colleague, immediate-past president Marc Moss, MD, said, at the 2018 Respiratory Innovation Summit (RIS), “Most researchers are not taught about entrepreneurial thinking and are unaware how to transition their important discoveries from the laboratory into the world. This lack of knowledge can delay improvements in patient care.” He went on to say that, in terms of the goals of the American Thoracic Society, “As one of the preeminent pulmonary, critical care, and sleep societies in the world, the ATS is enhancing entrepreneurial knowledge translation and ultimately patient care by connecting academia, industry and venture capital.”

Therein lies the value of the RIS, a one-day event where entrepreneurs, key opinion leaders, investors, and the most innovative corporations share new ideas and pursue solutions for common problems from their own unique fields of expertise. The RIS provides a platform for start-up pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies to present their research, as well as present new technologies that are still in the developmental stages. It also provides the space to make the kinds of connections with researchers and potential investors that can facilitate turning new discoveries into new therapies. Individual researchers have the ability to network within these diverse fields and learn about potential applications for their work within industry.

Held during the ATS International Conference, the RIS is hosted by Healthegy, a multi-media/event production company that organizes events focused on health care innovation. It was developed by the ATS Drug Device Development and Discovery Committee, and supplements the annual ATS conference as a separate, but complementary, event. This event provides conference attendees with a unique opportunity to network with global leaders from pharmaceutical and medical device companies as well as venture capitalists, respiratory start-up CEO’s, and researchers, as well as representatives from the NIH and FDA.

 “We’re in an exciting time right now scientifically. It’s critical to put great minds together in the same place to talk about new technologies, new devices, new therapeutics that are in development,“ said 2018 RIS co-chair Tim Watkins, MD, director of Clinical Research, Respiratory & Inflammation Therapeutics with Gilead Sciences, of last year’s RIS. “We need to capitalize on that cooperation so we move the needle more quickly and get new therapeutics to patients who desperately need them.”

The RIS agenda is composed of presentations from respiratory start-ups, as well as updates from clinical leaders from large pharma and device companies on their earliest-stage programs, with plenty of time for questions and networking.