Medical Alley — the trade group for medtech’s major hub in Minnesota — has formed a strategic alliance with Canadian VC firm iGan Partners. The partnership has iGan working with the Minnesota group’s startup venture platform Medical Alley Starts. The group brings an extensive network in Minnesota and beyond to the partnership, and iGan has […]
Medical Alley
Medical Alley’s former innovation chief joins Avio Medtech consultancy
Avio Medtech, a consulting group, announced today that it appointed Frank Jaskulke as VP of sales and business development. Minneapolis-based Avio aims to help innovators by championing, accelerating and navigating the journey to market. The firm supports evolving medtech startups and innovators with expertise, streamlined processes, and trusted partnerships to help take them from concept […]
Medical Alley appoints new CEO
The Medical Alley Association announced today that it appointed Roberta Dressen as its new president and CEO. Dressen takes over the position previously held by Shaye Mandle since 2014 before he announced his departure for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) in February. Steffen Hovard served as interim CEO in the time since then. Hovard will […]
Medical Alley launches startup accelerator
Minnesota’s Medical Alley Association announced that it launched an accelerator for early-stage healthcare startup companies. Medical Alley Starts is described in its subsection of the Medical Alley website as a focused initiative and suite of services targeted at accelerating healthcare startup formation and growth in Minnesota’s Medical Alley region. The accelerator is led by eight […]
The George Floyd case has rocked a major U.S. medtech hub: Here’s what industry leaders think
Major medtech companies with a presence in the Minnesota and elsewhere have been calling for peace, unity and racial justice following the death of George Floyd in police custody and the resulting demonstrations and violence. Executives from Boston Scientific, Medtronic and the Medical Alley Association have penned open letters expressing their concerns and pledging to […]
Medical Alley to collaborate with Accenture for Healthcare Transformation Initiative
The Medical Alley Association and Accenture (NYSE:ACN) announced today that they are collaborating to lead phase one of the Healthcare Transformation Initiative campaign in an effort to redefine the course of healthcare. HTI-MA is an initiative with the goal of bringing together healthcare leaders to define realities of today’s healthcare system, identify modes of collaboration for […]
Best Buy wants to get mHealth into seniors’ homes: Here’s how
Want to get mHealth and other medical devices into seniors’ homes? Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and its Geek Squad may be the way in the door. “For companies looking to bring healthcare interactions into the home, we could be a fairly useful partner,” Asheesh Saksena, president of Best Buy Health, told hundreds of medical device industry […]
Medical device tax repeal bill reintroduced in U.S. Senate
U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) reintroduced a bill to permanently repeal the 2.3% federal excise tax on medical device sales, with a new co-sponsor. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) has signed on to co-sponsor, replacing Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who did not run for re-election last fall. The medical device tax went […]
From Frankenstein to Medical Alley: Earl Bakken remembered
Earl Bakken was eight years old when he saw the movie Frankenstein and became fascinated with the connection between electricity and life. He went on to invent the wearable external pacemaker and co-founded Medtronic in 1949. In 1967, he hired Manny Villafaña to head the company’s international sales division. In 1972, Villafaña started a competing pacemaker […]
Where medtech is putting its money this November
Republicans reaped nearly $3.3 million in federal political contributions from the medtech industry in the 2017-18 election cycle, compared with $1.85 million for Democrats, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit campaign finance watchdog group. Medtech has “historically been a little more Republican than the average industry,” said Andrew Mayersohn, committees researcher […]
3 ways HHS can help medtech innovators
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is doing everything from sharing more data to cultivating entrepreneurial talent and engaging in partnerships in order to support medical device innovators, the department’s CTO Ed Simcox told than 100 industry insiders in the Twin Cities today. A major goal at HHS is to build an innovation-focused […]
