Minnesota med-tech hub backers pressing on, with or without federal money

A large industry coalition backing plans for a new medical technology hub in Minnesota is pushing forward with the idea, with or without significant financial support from the federal government.

MedTech 3.0, which Greater MSP spearheads, calls for collaboration between hospitals, research institutions and medical device manufacturers in the state to integrate artificial intelligence, data science and device manufacturing as a way to make Minnesota a global center for the industry.

In October, President Joe Biden named it one of 31 tech hubs across the U.S. competing for awards of $40 million to $70 million. The groups turned in their proposals in February, but decisions on the five to 10 regional winners won’t come out until this summer.

But the Minnesota effort isn’t waiting on the results.

“We are ready to go. Realizing the strategy will create billions of dollars of new value,” said Peter Frosch, CEO of Greater MSP. “The federal funding would accelerate the implementation of this strategy.”

Greater MSP’s application sought $60.5 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). But the economic development group said organizations have already made commitments that have a market value of more than that requested amount.

“Private companies are stepping up now,” Frosch said.

Greater MSP previously competed in 2022 to land up to $100 million from the federal “Build Back Better Regional Challenge” for a biotech business cluster. The group was a finalist but ultimately unsuccessful in its bid.

Joseph Parilla, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the EDA is looking for projects that will “shift the economy.” The tech-hub goal is to help build innovative, globally competitive technologies regionally.

“It takes a lot of strategic work,” Parilla said.

Frosch said Greater MSP is emphasizing working together on talent development to address workforce shortages. It is also implementing data exchanges between groups to help speed up innovation and finding more support for early stage companies. Frosch said the med-tech hub could create thousands of jobs and help accelerate economic growth in the area.

Frosch credits Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha with approaching Greater MSP with the med-tech hub idea in February 2023. Martha said other U.S. and international cities had been approaching Medtronic and asking the company to help build health care hubs in those places.

Members of the MedTech 3.0 coalition include Medtronic, Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota, Allina Health, University Enterprise Labs and the Destination Medical Center in Rochester. Coalition members Boston Scientific and Abbott are not based in Minnesota but both have a significant presence in the state. Coloplast Corp., another member, is based in Denmark, but its North American headquarters are in Minneapolis.

“Through the MedTech Hub, Allina Health will leverage our commitment to collaboration in research and innovation to improve care and make it more equitable,” the health system said in a statement.

Frosch said the top U.S. med-tech hubs are in Boston, San Francisco and San Diego.

A report on the life sciences industry from commercial real estate services firm JLL ranked Minneapolis-St. Paul as second in the U.S. in 2022 for the number of med-tech jobs, behind only the Greater Boston area.

“Hopefully, we have the opportunity to create a lot of homegrown medical success stories here,” said Amrinder Singh, a partner with Edina-based Vensana Capital, a venture firm focused on health care and med-tech investments that’s also a member of the MedTech 3.0 coalition.