Top US cities for Med Tech Innovation 1. Boston / Cambridge The region is one of the most important areas on the planet for medical research, and as such pulls in substantial amounts of funding from the NIH. On top of that, the area is second only to Silicon Valley when it comes to venture capital funding in the United States. Like Silicon Valley, the area is a hotbed when it comes to innovation, and a significant number of medical device startups in the area are spun off from research carried out at institutions such as Harvard and MIT. Speaking of MIT, Robert Langer, PhD, a notable professor there, has helped lead a revolution in the field of biomaterials. A slew of medical startups have been spawned by his lab alone. In addition, the area is home to developers of exciting enabling technologies such as flexible electronics pioneer MC10 and EyeNetra, which brings eye exams to smartphones. No. of Medical Device Employees: 18,893 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for MA): $383M Annual operating cost with facility construction: $10.6M NIH Funding (2013, MA): $2.4B 2. Minneapolis / St. Paul The Twin Cities have long been a leader in life sciences, going back to the days in the late 1950s when Medtronic founder Earl Bakken tinkered with pacemaker technology. Besides Medtronic, St. Jude Medical has its headquarters in the metro, and both Boston Scientific and Covidien have sizable presences. 3M Co. is also a major medical device player. When it comes to sheer number of employees, Minneapolis and St. Paul are unmatched outside of California. The metro arguably has the highest concentration of medical device talent in the nation. Medical device research is robust at the University of Minnesota. One of the most innovative health providers in the nation, Mayo Clinic, is just an hour and a half drive to the south in Rochester, and the nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group, is based in Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka. Both Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) and Republican politicians are supportive of the industry. Venture capital supports an ecosystem of companies in various stages, but the major question going forward is whether the Twin Cities is too reliant on legacy technologies versus innovation. No. of Medical Device Employees: 27,718 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for MN): $160M Annual operating cost with facility construction: $9.2M NIH Funding (2013, MN): $494M 3. Irvine / Orange County The medical device industry in Orange County is anchored by firms such as Abbott, Edwards Lifesciences, Carefusion, and drug- and device-maker Allergan. The workforce in the area is talented thanks to universities such as University of California, Irvine; and nearby UCLA and USC. While the region is home to one of the strongest hubs in the country, a growing number of firms are questioning whether the challenging business climate in the region might be worth escaping from. Still, the area boast a strong network of established and up-and-coming device firms and contract manufacturers serving the medtech industry. No. of Medical Device Employees (for Los Angeles market): 29,104 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for LA/Orange County): $249M NIH Funding (2013, Cong. Districts 24-49): $1.3B 4. San Jose / Silicon Valley A small army of innovative healthcare firms are based in Silicon Valley, which leads the nation in venture capital funding for medical devices (and pretty much everything else). A number of large medical device companies also call the area home. Home to Stanford, a leader in medical research, the region has one of the most educated and talented workforces on the planet. Silicon Valley is also home to a strong network of electronics suppliers, contract manufacturers, and innovative design firms. A number of incubators, among them Rock Health and the Fogarty Institute for Innovation, also exist in the area. The cost of living and doing business in the region, however, is notoriously expensive. Add to that the fact that the California Department of Public Health has a regulatory body that monitors device approvals, potentially translating into extra work for device firms based in the state. No. of Medical Device Employees (for San Francisco market): 9,372 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for Silicon Valley): $581M Annual operating cost with facility construction (San Francisco market): $10.2M NIH Funding (2013, Cong. Districts 2-18): $1.5B 5. San Diego San Diego is emerging as an innovator in the field of wireless medical technology. Innovators such as Sotera Wireless, which makes the innovative ViSi Mobile wireless monitor, are based there. Qualcomm and the West Wireless Foundation are all based in the area and are helping to foster innovation in the digital health sector. The city pulls in substantially less funding than the the Bay Area, but still is one of the top metros in the U.S. for medical technology VC funding. The area is also home to research organizations like the Scripps Research Institute. In addition, the University of California raked in $362 million in NIH financing in 2013. No. of Medical Device Employees: 7,614 Medtech VC Investing (2013): $127M Annual operating cost with facility construction: $10.4M NIH Funding (2013, Cong. Districts 50, 52-53): $480M 6. Houston, TX Houston has long been a center of cardiology and cardiovascular research. The Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, the Baylor College of Medicine, and the Texas Heart Institute are all in Houston. So is the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, as are such companies as Cyberonics, which develops neuromodulation implantables, and Nanospectra Biosciences, which is looking into particle-based thermal ablation of solid tumors. NASAs Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center ensures that a vibrant aerospace medicine community also thrives in Houston. The state as a whole was dealt a hand in the medtech game through Gov. Rick Perrys 2005 creation of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund(TETF). The state’s oil resources also help to keep Texas taxes and the cost of doing business low. No. of Medical Device Employees: 2,805 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for TX): $43M Annual operating cost with facility construction: $9.8M NIH Funding (2013, TX): $957M 7. Atlanta, GA Home to Georgia Tech, Georgia Center for Medical Innovations, and Saint Josephs Translational Research Institute, the city is important for its engineering and medical research. The region is also a leader when it comes to logistics; its Hartsfield Jackson Airport has been the world’s busiest since 1998. The region also boasts a business-friendly climate. Medical device professionals based in the area encounter a relatively low cost of living and operational costs. The state’s life sciences industry is also receiving considerable support from the Georgia Department of Economic Development. No. of Medical Device Employees: 3,780 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for GA): $11M NIH Funding (2013, GA): $451M 8. New York The city’s economy rivals that of the entire nation of Australia. While the medical device industry in the actual city is relatively small considering its sheer size, that is changing. Institutions such as NYC Tech Connect and the Partnership for New York City Fund are both investing in the city’s life science industry. While venture capital investing in the city is not its strong suit, healthcare-focused venture firms such as Manhattan’s Aperture Venture Partners are hoping to change that by investing in local startups when possible. Supporters of local medtech startup include the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the New York Digital Health Accelerator. The biotech industry in the region is also growing, thanks to investments from Celgene and Eli Lilly. New York City boasts a concentration of nine major academic medical centers including Columbia University, Weill Cornell Medical College, NYU, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and The Rockefeller University. And the city has a “bioscience” cluster of 120 companies, according to the NYC Economic Development Corp. Johnson & Johnson, with its sizeable medical device operations, are just an hour’s drive to the south in New Brunswick, NJ. No. of Medical Device Employees: 17,189 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for NY): $6M NIH Funding (2013, NY): $1.9B 9. Chicago Two major companies in the medical device industry, Abbott Laboratories and Baxter International, are based in northern suburbs, and the Windy City numerically has has a strong contingent of medical device employees. There is also a high concentration of academic institutions, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Loyola University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Venture capital attention, however, appears to be virtually nonexistent in the medical device space. Drive six hours to the north, and the Twin Cities have more talent, more venture capital, and a lower cost of doing business. No. of Medical Device Employees: 13,026 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for IL): Not available Annual operating cost with facility construction: $10.4M NIH Funding (2013, IL): $760M 10. Raleigh-Durham, NC The Research Triangle based in the area is home to more than 170 technology companies. The medical device industry is the region is admittedly small, but attracts a disproportionate amount of funding from the NIH and venture capitalists. The funding is spurred by groundbreaking collaboration between academic labs and private life science firms based in the region. In addition, the regions is competitive in terms of its business climate and cost of living index. No. of Medical Device Employees: 1,486 Medtech VC Investing (2013, for NC): $35M Annual operating cost with facility construction: $9.2M NIH Funding (2013, NC): $1.0B qmed/mpmn/gallery/top-us-cities-medtech-innovation
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 15:53:39 +0000
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