The Innovation Showcase at the recent Executive War College (EWC) meeting held on April 28–29, 2026 in New Orleans, LA, highlighted technology that can help clinical labs improve their performance and productivity. These companies brought innovative solutions to a wide variety of data management, blood draw, and technical problems faced by labs across the clinical industry.
We spent time during the conference talking to representatives from each of these companies to learn about their innovations and how they benefit clinical labs in many different circumstances.
Automation
Automation was a big topic of discussion at this year’s EWC. Most clinical labs struggle to recruit enough laboratorians and the workload continues to increase. Finding ways for the existing staff to complete the work more efficiently is important.
Vitestro
Blood draws are the first step for many diagnostic tests. Hiring, training, and retaining enough phlebotomists can be a challenge. Vitestro has developed Aletta®, a fully autonomous robotic outpatient phlebotomy device that can perform the entire blood draw to automate the preanalytical phase. Bob Gerberich the global chief commercial officer says, “Autonomous robotic phlebotomy addresses a significant unmet need in lab medicine as health systems and hospitals have strategic priorities to move towards total lab automation.” The device has earned the CE mark in Europe but is not yet FDA approved in the US. It has performed more than 10,000 blood draws with no moderate or serious adverse effects and has a first strike success rate of 94.5%.
Tactus AI
While many labs have automated analyses, they often have manual processes to move samples between different activities in the workflow. Tactus has developed humanoid robots to work in labs to fill in the gaps left by lack of staff and to allow staff to complete higher value lab activities. According to Michael Quick, chief commercial officer, “We’re not here to replace jobs. We’re here to do the work that’s not getting done today. We’re building today what the lab needs for tomorrow.” The robots are five feet tall with a rolling base and autonomous for navigation around the lab. They currently have working prototypes and are planning a mid-summer deployment
FormaPath
Clinical labs today face increasing workloads while struggling to be fully staffed. In many cases automation is a key to getting the work done. FormaPath, in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, has developed nToto, to automate the tissue lab. “We’re proud to be partners with the Mayo Pathology Department to lead the effort to automate anatomic pathology especially the growing volumes of inbound tissue biopsies,” says Ted Snelgrove, CEO. There are several benefits of automating this process, including reducing the cost/specimen for gross dissection, generating better data that is done the same way each time, supporting AI data needs with standardized data, reducing errors and legal risks, creating longitudinal data studies via 2,500 biopsies/day, and improving lab safety by preventing cuts to the hands.
Morphle Labs
Microtomy is a key anatomic pathology workflow. Morphle Labs has developed the RTM 30, a robotic microtome that has the potential to complete the automation of microtoming for pathology labs. According to Rohit Hiwale, the founder and CEO, “We build robotics to automate different bottlenecks in anatomic pathology.” This device can replace a time-consuming activity that is tedious and difficult. The RTM 30 is capable of up to 60 cuts/hour.
Lab instruments
Labs have keen interest in acquiring new instruments that will enable them to do innovative science and improve the productivity of their work.
Scopio Labs
Many clinical labs rely on human excellence to produce the critical test results used to direct patient care. Scopio has developed a platform that is the “World’s first end-to-end digital morphology review platform for peripheral blood serums and bone marrow aspirates,” says Aaron Karas the director of corporate accounts. This slide scanner fills the digitization need for labs, and as Karas notes, there is “no need to go back to the manual microscope.”
Grundium
Wasting time and money in shipping physical slides or having experts travel between sites is a challenge for many organizations. Grundium has developed the Ocus® digital pathology scanner to provide quick answers through consultations and second opinions with digital data in live time. “Our goal is to make digital pathology available to all types of facilities and the patients they serve by offering a compact scanning solution that offers high quality images and easy to implement and use affordable solution,” says Joshua Griffith, VP and GM. This scanner enables remote assessment, especially for low volume, high value operations and gives pathologists back their time.
Roche
Labs are very interested in bringing new technology into their workflows and doing so at the speed required to serve their key stakeholders. To facilitate faster next-generation sequencing (NGS), Roche has introduced a sequencing by expansion platform that uses direct electrical signals to produce NGS data with high accuracy and best in class speed. Chris Higgins, PhD, NGS sales specialist, says that Roche “offers high accuracy data that is cost effective and flexible to run across many different batch sizes.”
Siemens Healthineers
Labs facing space, cost, and workload pressure are very interested in instruments that offer smaller footprints, analysis speed, and flexibility. To address those needs Siemens Healthineers are introducing four new instruments, the CN-3000 and CN-6000 coagulation systems, the Atellica DT250 drug testing analyzer, and the Atellica HEMA 580 analyzer. These instruments are specifically designed as solutions for core labs and for specialty point of care.
Software
The rise of AI has intensified changes in software options available to labs which are looking for tools that can speed analyses, increase accuracy, improve operations, and make work easier for clinicians.
Docus
Labs must find ways to use all the available data to enable accurate clinical decisions and make it easy for patients and insurance companies to understand the testing and the results. Docus has developed AI-driven layers for diagnostic labs that will integrate with any LIS. They have three different products. Clinical decision support is for the doctors to provide easy explanations for patients, integrate into the EMR, and reduce the chances of doctor error. The digital requisition form automatically generates the clinical justification for the testing. The AI compliance agent checks the insurance and reminds the doctor of the right diagnosis codes. Robert Sargsyan, PhD, CEO and co-founder, says, “We help labs to provide a reporting system that their clients love by saving doctor time and providing better care.”
hc1
A key internal challenge for most labs is to transition from being a cost to a strategic asset. “hc1 clinical IQ technology transforms lab data into actionable insights that move the lab to the front line of care turning your lab into a strategic asset,” says Jason Carney, senior vice president of clinical strategy. The key to this transition is organizing the data available in the EHR, and as Carney says, “Make the complex simple.” Making better use of the data enables labs to close care gaps, improve operations, negotiate smarter, and retain their best clients.
Techcyte
Digital pathology requires effective solutions to manage the images. Techcyte has developed an anatomic and clinical pathology AI-driven image management platform that is based on SaaS and built for the cloud. It is built for speed and can handle fluids and smears. Bruce Gleamza, account executive, describes it as a holistic platform for all pathology labs: “Our focus is on optimized AI-driven workflows that save pathologists time and mitigate the risk of an appropriate diagnosis.”
TrueMedLIS
Labs require operational data to drive improved performance. In clinical labs, this data is often housed in an LIS. TrueMedLIS has developed a platform that directly serves client needs. It can be a bolt on or in front of an old LIS. It interfaces to the EHR and to the lab’s instruments. It is a cloud-based SaaS tool that is quick to install, easy to tie into available AI tools, and they have no charge for integrations. Bryan Shnider, co-founder and CRO, describes their priorities as: “Your lab. Your workflows. Your LIS. We truly provide what our clients want.”
