PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The University of California Center for Accelerated Innovation created new mechanisms leveraging its diverse strengths in diagnostics, therapeutics, and devices to support translation of promising early-stage inventions for patient benefit. The Center is a consortium of five UC medical campuses: UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego, and UC San Francisco. Each campus has a thriving research enterprise, nationally ranked medical school, and translational research institute funded by Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA). The Center taps into the vigor and creativity of California's legendary biomedical and engineering ecosystem and integrates the many successful business, engineering and health sciences programs at our campuses. Our program partners with well-established biomedical companies, venture capital firms, industry organizations and nonprofits focused on medical innovation. The Center is supported by UC Biomedical Research Acceleration, Integration, and Development (UC BRAID), a joint effort of the five UC biomedical campuses designed to catalyze and accelerate biomedical, clinical, and translational research across the UC system. Together we: 1) Engage University of California heart, lung and blood disease innovators in entrepreneurism through a comprehensive education, training and mentorship program. 2) Solicit and select technologies with high commercial potential that align with NHLBI's mission and addressed unmet medical needs or significant scientific opportunity. 3) Incubate our most promising technologies in accordance with industry requirements to facilitate their translation to commercial products that improve patient care and enhance health. We are now leveraging this infrastructure and our network to support the development of COVID-19 diagnostic technologies of high priority to the NIH.