Baxter International, a global medical products company, and MATTER, a Chicago-based healthcare incubator and innovation community, announced a new collaboration to drive forward innovation focused on improving the value and quality of healthcare.

The collaboration will bring together Baxter’s strategy and product development teams and MATTER’s network of entrepreneurs and innovators to help advance new ideas, products and technology that can make a meaningful difference in healthcare.

“Baxter is one of the world’s great healthcare companies, with products in hospitals around the globe,” said Steven Collens, MATTER CEO. “MATTER is thrilled to partner with Baxter to create collaborations with entrepreneurs that will help develop next-generation products and solutions to improve health and lives."

As part of the agreement, Baxter will provide resources and expertise to help entrepreneurs accelerate the progress of their innovations, and collaborate on the development of new technologies to help address pressing unmet clinical needs. In addition, Baxter will gain access to MATTER’s extensive program suite, including introductions to member companies, proprietary access to relevant technologies under development through MATTER partners, and the opportunity to explore MATTER’s entrepreneurial network to pursue key business objectives.

“Our work with MATTER will help Baxter provide meaningful support for healthcare innovation in Chicago,” said David Roman, vice president of strategy for Baxter’s global businesses. “Our partnership with MATTER extends Baxter’s efforts to access new sources of innovation. Importantly, we can help advance new ideas that have the potential to greatly improve healthcare here and around the world.”

This new partnership builds on Baxter’s recently announced research collaborations with Mayo Clinic, Tel Aviv University and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.