Regenerative Medicine Engine named Collaboration of the Year by Greater Winston-Salem Inc.

Winston-Salem, NC – November 5, 2025 – The Regenerative Medicine Engine, a dynamic innovation ecosystem for the regenerative medicine industry, received the Truliant Collaboration of the Year Award from Greater Winston-Salem Inc. at the chamber’s annual meeting Tuesday night.

The RegenMed Engine, based in North Carolina and funded by the National Science Foundation as a grant to the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, is the first-of-its-kind ecosystem dedicated to economic growth by advancing the regenerative medicine industry. The RegenMed Engine bridges gaps in infrastructure and commercialization pathways, ultimately accelerating regenerative medicine innovations to market while reducing costs, improving manufacturing, and creating jobs and economic growth.

“The Regenerative Medicine Engine exists solely for the service of our partners across industry, academia, and the government. Not only does the RegenMed Engine provide critical services to our partners—such as state-of-the-art equipment, business consulting, investor-company matching, and regulatory navigation—but equally as important, we help connect our partners so that they can collaborate and leverage each other in the name of advancing their innovations,” said Tim Bertram, PhD, CEO of the RegenMed Engine.  

The RegenMed Engine has nearly 200 partners, including lead partners in the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Regenerative Medicine Development Organization, Forsyth Technical Community College, Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Axiom Space. To date, the RegenMed Engine has attracted nearly $300 million worth of investment to its ecosystem, helped create more than 50 jobs, and expanded the talent pipeline through high school, college, and industry internship opportunities. Nearly 30 of its industry partners have committed to expanding their footprint and workforce development opportunities in the Triad.

“Organizations like the Regenerative Medicine Engine are vital to Winston-Salem. Economic growth, especially in an emerging industry like regenerative medicine, cannot be achieved alone,” said Mark Owens, President and CEO of Greater Winston-Salem Inc. “Greater Winston-Salem Inc. is proud to honor the RegenMed Engine for the work it is doing to make our city and region a magnet in the regenerative medicine industry.”

The Regenerative Medicine Engine has helped its partners achieve significant milestones, such as:

Earlier this year, the Regenerative Medicine Engine expanded its services area from the Piedmont Triad region to the entire state of North Carolina as it recognized significant demand for its offerings in its first year.

The Regenerative Medicine Engine was one of nine inaugural Regional Innovation Engine awardees by the National Science Foundation. The RegenMed Engine initially received $15 million in 2024 and is eligible, upon meeting certain standards and criteria, to receive total funding of $160 million over the coming decade.

 

The Regenerative Medicine Engine, funded by the National Science Foundation and based in North Carolina, is a dynamic innovation ecosystem focused on economic growth in the regenerative medicine industry. By supporting use-inspired research, workforce development, technology translation, and manufacturing, the RegenMed Engine is fostering the development of new technologies, the creation of new jobs, and the attraction of investment. This first-of-its-kind initiative unites different sectors to accelerate commercialization for regenerative medicine technologies, thereby cementing North Carolina and the United States as a leader in the rapidly growing regenerative medicine industry. Learn more at our website: https://regenmedengine.com/.

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is recognized as an international leader in translating scientific discovery into clinical therapies, with many world firsts, including the development and implantation of the first engineered organ in a patient. Over 550 people at the institute, the largest in the world, work on more than 40 different tissues and organs. A number of the basic principles of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine were first developed at the institute. WFIRM researchers have successfully engineered replacement tissues and organs in all four categories – flat structures, tubular tissues, hollow organs and solid organs – and 17 different applications of cell/tissue therapy technologies, such as skin, urethras, cartilage, bladders, muscle, kidney, and vaginal organs, have been successfully used in human patients. The institute, which is part of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, is located in the Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem, NC, and is driven by the urgent needs of patients. The institute is making a global difference in regenerative medicine through collaborations with over 500 entities and institutions worldwide, through its government, academic and industry partnerships, its start-up entities, and through major initiatives in breakthrough technologies, such as tissue engineering, cell therapies, diagnostics, drug discovery, biomanufacturing, nanotechnology, gene editing and 3D printing.