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Kyocera Ventures recently invested in the surgical navigation startup KatoMed, which has deep ties to UC San DiegoKatoMed licensed robotics IP from UC San Diego, hired engineering alumni, and thrived in the MedTech accelerator at the Jacobs School of Engineering
KatoMed, a San Diego-based startup that developed a navigation tool for spine surgery that could result in safer, less costly procedures and improved workflow for surgeons, has deep ties to the University of California San Diego. Those connections were on display recently, as the current and incoming presidents of Japanese electronics giant Kyocera attended a demo of KatoMed’s technology on campus, at the UC San Diego Center for the Future of Surgery.
UC San Diego’s leadership in the fields of robotics and AI, along with a strong commitment to transferring discoveries for the benefit of society, first drew KatoMed to UC San Diego’s Institute for the Global Entrepreneur (IGE), which is housed at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Now, the startup has licensed intellectual property from campus, was in IGE’s MedTech Accelerator program, and employs several engineering alumni.
“A lot of the cutting edge research is here at UC San Diego. A lot of the most motivated people are here. And so we really wanted to be associated with this incredible institution, and UC San Diego was willing to foster that through connections, licensing intellectual property, and entrepreneurship programming,” said Albert Hill, CEO of KatoMed.