From Research to Patient Impact: How Georgia Tech’s Pediatric Innovation Network Is Advancing Pediatric Care

For many organizations working to improve care for children, the challenge is not developing new ideas but getting those ideas into patients' hands. 

At Georgia Tech, the Pediatric Innovation Network (PIN) is designed to bridge that gap. 

Now part of the Office of Commercialization, PIN connects clinical need, research, and commercialization resources to help move pediatric innovations beyond early-stage development and toward patient impact. 

“The Pediatric Innovation Network is designed to connect clinical need with research and the resources required to move ideas forward,” said Leanne West, director of the Pediatric Innovation Network and chief engineer of pediatric technologies at Georgia Tech. “By aligning with the Office of Commercialization, we are able to support not just discovery, but the pathways that help bring those innovations closer to clinical use.” 

That work is supported by Georgia Tech’s broader commercialization ecosystem, including programs such as the Office of Technology Licensing and VentureLab. Together, these resources provide the structure to translate ideas from the lab into solutions that can reach patients in the clinic. 

One example of this approach in action is the global pediatric healthcare system, Shriners Children’s, which is working with Georgia Tech and PIN to expand how pediatric research moves toward clinical use.  

Shriners Children’s operates more than 20 locations across the U.S., with additional hospitals in Canada and Mexico, as well as outreach clinics worldwide. 

As a nonprofit, Shriners treats children regardless of a family’s ability to pay. That mission has long driven its investment in research and discovery. But that model has not included a formal commercialization pathway. 

“We have not historically built out a commercialization infrastructure ourselves,” said Marc Lalande, vice president of research programs at Shriners Children’s. “Rather than recreating something that already exists, we are partnering with Georgia Tech to leverage an ecosystem that is already world-class.” 

The partnership has been years in the making. In 2019, Lalande was introduced to Georgia Tech’s pediatric research efforts and connected with West. What began as a conversation has since grown into a portfolio of collaborative projects spanning biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence. 

These efforts include work on robotic exoskeletons to support mobility, 3D-printed bone for children with limb differences, and augmented reality tools for surgical planning. 

Now, collaboration is expanding significantly. 

Shriners Children’s is establishing a new research institute at Georgia Tech, a 150,000-square-foot facility at Science Square that will be built out in phases through 2029 and supported by a growing team of investigators. It will serve as a central hub for translational pediatric research, while leveraging Georgia Tech’s commercialization infrastructure and partnerships across the city. 

Shriners selected Atlanta after a national search that evaluated multiple finalist locations. In addition to available space, the existing relationship with Georgia Tech and proximity to partners such as Emory University played a key role in the decision. 

By bringing together clinicians, engineers, and commercialization experts, PIN helps identify clinical challenges and align them with the tools and pathways to develop viable solutions. That work is particularly complex in pediatric care, where solutions must account for growth and development over time. 

“You can’t think of a medical solution as static,” Lalande said. “A technology designed for a 3-year-old may need to be adapted as that child grows.” 

The complexity makes a coordinated approach even more important. Lalande describes Shriners’ vision as bench-to-bedside: making the discovery, confirming its safety and effectiveness through clinical trials, and determining when to partner for commercialization to expand access beyond Shriners’ own patient population. 

“Ultimately, our goal is to bring these discoveries to children,” said Lalande. 

As the Pediatric Innovation Network continues to grow within Georgia Tech’s Office of Commercialization, it is helping define a model for pediatric innovation that integrates research, clinical insight, and commercialization from the start to ensure that promising ideas reach the patients they are designed to serve.