Eight Norwegian medical technology and device companies and over 20 delgates travelled to Boston and Minneapolis to engage in an interactive learning experience from 7-11 April, 2008. Innovation Norway in Boston and the Royal Norwegian Consulate in Minneapolis in collaboration with SINTEF Health Research, KITH and Oslo Teknopol organized this event with generous help from industry experts and helpers from two of the leading medtech clusters in the world: Massachusetts and Minnesota.
4/22/2008 :: The medtech industry of Minnesota is recognized worldwide for being at the forefront of innovation. Between 2001 and 2005 about 2500 medical device related patents were registered to Minnesota companies. The Twin Cities of Minnesota harbour 400-500 small and mid-sized medtech companies. In addition, world giants like Medtronic, 3M, and St. Jude have their HQ in the Twin Cities. In 2004 the medtech industry was employing approximately 24.000 people in Minnesota, with a growth rate of more than 40 percentage. The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMTC) is one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S., in particular on medtech and devices development.
The life science industry is also a prominent feature of the Massachusetts industry-university collaboration: there were about 300 biotechnology companies in Massachusetts in 2005, and about 150 medical device companies. The industry employs over 30.000 people, and one can find some of the world's lagest medtech companies such as Boston Scientific Corporation, Covidien and Philips Medical Systems.
From Norway the following companies participated: Access Mid-Norway, SonoWand, Sintef Helse, KITH, Vital Base, Balter Medical, Orthogenics, Medstorm, PhotoCure, Medsafe, and WPR Medical.
During their stay they met with local companies and experts in both states. It has provided Norwegian companies with a tool to be better equipped to give their local medtech ideas global opportunities.