Creative Destruction Lab launches CDL-Cleveland in partnership with Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a global nonprofit that supports science- and technology-based startups, today announced the launch of CDL-Cleveland in partnership with University Hospitals (UH) and Case Western Reserve University. The new site will host the CDL Healthcare Delivery stream, focused on early-stage ventures building technology to reduce costs, improve patient outcomes, and accelerate the adoption of innovation inside real clinical environments.

CDL-Cleveland is the first site in the CDL network to be anchored to a health system. Founders in the program will have access to UH as a living laboratory, giving them an opportunity to test their technologies with actual clinicians and caregivers, not in simulation. For healthcare ventures, the gap between a promising idea and a working solution almost always comes down to real-world validation and CDL-Cleveland closes that gap.

The site will be co-hosted with Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, which brings the management disciplines that determine whether healthcare technology gets adopted, how organizational change actually happens, and pathways for bridging technology and human judgment. For founders, that turns clinical validation into a path to a scalable company. For CWRU students and faculty, it is a front row seat to enterprise formation.

Healthcare Delivery Innovation Stream

The CDL Healthcare Delivery stream will support founders working alongside health system leaders and clinicians to identify, co-develop, deploy, and disseminate technologies that advance healthcare’s largest opportunities to create value—improving quality, enhancing access, and reducing costs. Ventures will move through CDL’s nine-month, objectives-based program, connecting with experienced mentors, clinicians, and domain experts, and will have the opportunity to directly engage with University Hospitals’ operations. By bringing founders and health systems into close collaboration, the program shortens the cycle from problem identification to real-world impact.

The stream also creates a direct pathway for UH caregivers and CWRU students to engage with entrepreneurship, learning what it takes to build and scale companies while contributing their clinical and research expertise to ventures that could change how care is delivered.

"Closing the gap between science-based ventures and the clinical environment is one of healthcare innovation's most persistent challenges. CDL-Cleveland is designed to reduce that distance by enabling founders to directly collaborate with University Hospitals clinicians and scientists, and the management expertise of Case Western Reserve University. We are thrilled to welcome CDL-Cleveland into our global network." – Sonia Sennik, chief executive officer, Creative Destruction Lab

“Healthcare is one of the most complex operating environments in the world, and that complexity is exactly why innovation struggles to move from concept to impact. By anchoring CDL-Cleveland within University Hospitals, we’re giving founders access to a real clinical system where ideas can be pressure-tested, validated, and refined alongside the clinicians who deliver care every day. This partnership isn’t about experimenting on the sidelines—it’s about accelerating solutions that can scale because they’re built in the realities of healthcare.” – Kipum Lee, PhD, president of UH Ventures

“Nurses understand better than anyone how systems, workflows, and technology shape the experience of care—for patients and caregivers alike. By investing in this work, we’re placing nursing at the center of healthcare innovation, where clinical insight, problem-solving, and leadership come together to build solutions that truly work. CDL-Cleveland creates a powerful pathway for nurses to influence how innovation is designed, tested, and scaled across healthcare.” – Michelle Hereford, MSHA, RN, FACHE, chief nurse executive at University Hospitals

“What excites me most about CDL coming to Cleveland is the opportunity to move beyond promising ideas to solutions that can scale and measurably improve value in healthcare. At UH, we’ve built a highly systemized approach to care—reflected in our ISO 9001 certification—that allows innovation to be tested rigorously, and reliably. That makes University Hospitals an ideal living lab for founders who want to transform healthcare delivery in ways that truly improve outcomes, safety, and efficiency.” – Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, chief quality and clinical transformation officer at University Hospitals and the Veale Distinguished Chair in Leadership and Clinical Transformation

"Adoption in real clinical settings is often the Achilles heel of healthcare innovation. CDL-Cleveland is where Weatherhead's management scholarship can drive enterprise formation—applied alongside UH clinicians, researchers, and founders to move validated science into companies that can scale. For our students and faculty, it's a front-row seat to that work." – Andrew Medvedev, dean of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University