A new healthcare innovation hub opening in Omaha in early 2025 aims to drive meaningful advancements in healthcare and contribute to the local economy by fostering collaboration, creating jobs and attracting new talent to Nebraska. 

Catalyst is a $65 Million, 170,000-square-foot medical innovation hub located on the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) campus. The facility, expected to open officially in January 2025, is designed to support innovation in healthcare, biotechnology and entrepreneurship. 

A goal of the Catalyst development is to bring together talent from local and national sectors. Attracting biotech and medtech startups, and supporting advancements in healthcare will be a primary focus, Vice Chancellor for Business, Finance and Business Development at UNMC Anne Barnes said. 

A Collaborative Space for Healthcare Innovation

Located on the historic Omaha Steel Works site across Saddle Creek Road to the west of UNMC, Catalyst aims to become a convening space where startups, healthcare professionals, academics and entrepreneurs collaborate. The facility includes 40,000-square-feet of space managed by UNMC, with research labs and training centers for UNeMed and UNeTech. 

UNeMed and UneTech programs will help support the commercialization of research and innovative ideas in areas like digital health and smart medical technologies. 

While UNeMed has been focused on technology transfer and commercializing research outcomes for UNMC for two decades, the organization is trying to build as many bridges as possible to fix the rift from discovery to commercialization, Michael Dixon, UNeMed president and CEO, said. 

Dixon said the proximity to UNMC and to the research that is going on is phenomenal. He thinks it will increase the likelihood of obtaining research and clinical feedback on projects, making Catalyst a novel place to build and grow a company. 

“I think it allows us to bring the innovation just across the street and to make it available and accessible to everyone—entrepreneurs, people wanting to build business, and wanting to test ideas,” Dixon said. “It also gives us an ability to take those ideas to the hospital.”

The Need for Catalyst

In 2022, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the 2021-2030 National Health Expenditure report. The report projects that annual growth in national health spending will reach more than $6.8 trillion by 2030.

Catalyst believes in Omaha’s growing healthcare industry and the power of technology to change the healthcare landscape, with the goal to save lives, Catalyst officials said. 

Omaha has gained recognition as a prime location for healthcare, with UNMC consistently landing among top ranked hospitals according to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. Developers Koelbel and Company, a Denver-based real estate developer, and Greenslate of Omaha, agreed on the strong healthcare presence Omaha has.

The Catalyst facility is a developer-led project on UNMC ground. Koelbel and Company created Catalyst Denver, the original concept for bringing various stakeholders like nonprofits, academia, entrepreneurs and large corporations together to drive innovation in the healthcare sector. 

The Colorado Catalyst site had more than 100 companies related to healthcare or health tech move into the building by early 2020. Vice President of Koelbel and Company, Dean Koelbel, wanted to expand into other markets, including Omaha. 

Koelbel said he partnered with Greenslate and brought the idea to UNMC. Meanwhile, UNMC didn’t know what to do with the old Steel Works site. That led to the selection of Omaha as the second location for Catalyst. Koelbel has goals to expand and build more Catalysts across the country, specifically the Midwest.

“We put this idea down to essentially build a vehicle for the healthcare, healthtech community, where it’s grabbing all facets of one industry,” Koelbel said. 

Local Economic and Community Impact

“It’s about creating more of a regional, and maybe national reputation that Omaha has all these things that we can put together to help with the start of being successful,” Barnes said. “[Omaha] is a really exciting place to do a startup company.”

Catalyst is a key part of a broader expansion of UNMC, with a new district being named in the coming months. The long-term goal being to create a neighborhood that supports healthcare innovation, creating a live-work environment. 

It is more than just an office building people come to during office hours, Barnes said. “We are interested in it being a place where people can live and they can work.”

Big Grove Brewery will be located inside of Catalyst with a full-scale taproom and restaurant opening in spring 2025. Restaurants, more office spaces and housing are on the list to create the new district.

“We will have the opportunity for growth,” Barnes said. “We want to attract the people who have a desire to build something, to grow something. It’s hard to even imagine what the long term benefit to all of this could be.” 

While Catalyst isn’t expected to open until January 2025, you can get a sneak peek inside at Silicon Prairie Startup Week in November.