Publication Delay—By Design

When we envisioned Prognosis:Innovation, our goal was clear: to spotlight transformative healthcare ideas emerging from less developed markets—spanning technology, education, research and more; we have identified those smaller markets as Incubator Cities®. The plan was to focus on one region per year in a detailed publication, while also monitoring innovation worldwide in a digital format. As 2024 drew to a close, we made the strategic decision not to rush the inaugural print issue, centered on Pittsburgh. Instead, we have chosen to expand our network of content partners and explore additional avenues, such as conferences and podcast opportunities, to complement the magazine’s launch.

Prognosis:Innovation is not a platform for breaking news or aggregating press releases—a need already addressed by automated services or excellent local outlets like the Pittsburgh Business Times. Our mission is to provide in-depth, analytical content for a select professional audience. By offering specialized insights and celebrating top innovators in the life sciences, we aim to equip entrepreneurs with actionable tools and help stakeholders to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by healthcare startups.

Pittsburgh serves as an excellent blueprint for other Incubator Cities, showcasing how local advantages and culture shape regional development paths. While some lessons from Pittsburgh’s ecosystem are universal, others are highly tailored to its unique environment. By highlighting these dynamics, we aspire to create a dialogue that bridges regional expertise, fosters innovation and enables knowledge-sharing across diverse markets nationwide.

From the beginning we believed that connecting the many stories and talented individuals in our city and others via an informative narrative would better convey the many ways in which innovative organizations and individuals inspire, ease and drive economic and technological progress. Our first thought was to create a few “tent-pole” topics which we would feature in our long-form articles and then connect them to the many entrepreneurs, researchers and healthcare workers that are actively innovating in that sector.  We will still be doing that, but we need to do something else first.

Frankly, we got distracted. There are far too many stories to follow in Pittsburgh to relegate our attention to only a handful. So we’ve decided to do two things:

1. We will be delaying our first physical publication and distribution until later this year.
2. We will be expanding our digital offering to include a wider range of topics and formats including interviews, podcasts and interactive events like expert roundtables and educational material.

This will delay our long-term goals of exploring the similarities and differences in other Incubator Cities and regional hotbeds of innovation. Instead, we will be developing a strategy of active engagement with both our ecosystem and our readers that breaks the fourth wall and becomes an active partner connecting the very thought leaders we seek to cover.

Media has evolved beyond 3rd party reporting—even major media outlets are actively attempting to develop their viewership community as a way to drive quality engagement and break through the noise of the modern information circus. Too often that engagement is achieved via tools of anxiety or conflict. After all it’s a lot easier to get attention by screaming “fire” in a crowded theater than it is calm and reasoned discourse.  Instead, join us, share your stories and help us prove that not every story needs to be reduced to a soundbite and that there is an appetite for complexity and nuance.

In the coming month we will be finalizing our strategy for 2025 and will announce some early events such as investor pitch days, expert discussions on cross-disciplinary technology transfer and educational content for life sciences professionals seeking to expand their career skills and opportunities.

We look forward to an exciting and productive 2025 and hope you join us along the way.