Medical Devices Making Major Impact

With recognizable company names from Warsaw to Bloomington and spots in between, most people probably realize that Indiana is a player in the medical devices industry. A new study, though, reveals we might be a bigger player than many realized.

From Hearts to Hips: Indiana’s Leadership in Life Sciences was recently released by BioCrossroads. High economic output, exports and employee wages well above the state average are all part of the mix.

The medical devices industry is one of Indiana’s most valuable economic assets employing over 20,000 people and generating more than $10 billion of annual economic output. Today, the medical devices sector accounts for more than 40 percent of the jobs in the state’s life sciences industry, placing Indiana as the fifth largest state in percentage of medical technology industry employment.

And in 2010, Indiana’s medical device companies manufactured more than $2 billion worth of exports, or approximately $100,000 per employee. The industry provides high-paying jobs with the average employee earning $60,000 annually, more than 56 percent higher than the state’s average private sector worker.

“From small towns to larger cities, the economic impact of the medical devices industry is significant and is well-distributed throughout the state,” said David Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads. Major companies such as Biomet, Boston Scientific, Cook Medical, DePuy, Medtronic, Roche Diagnostics and Zimmer are either headquartered or maintain major operations within the state and develop a wide variety of medical devices for from cardiovascular to urological to diagnostics and orthopedics.

“This report is proof that Indiana’s medical devices sector is robust and resides on a solid foundation that positions us well for future growth,” added Johnson. “There are still many external factors like the economic, regulatory and health care reform environment that pose real challenges for this industry.”

The report delves into external challenges the industry faces today. In addition to the current economic conditions that have lowered the demand for some medical devices, the industry faces even bigger challenges to overcome in the next decade including:

  • A rapidly changing health care market

  • Tax policies that discourage innovation

  • Increasing regulatory uncertainty

  • A shift to overseas production and expansion to overseas markets

  • Technological changes requiring more worker education

  • Increasingly competitive global market.

Warsaw a Major Player on Global Commerce Scene

A new study by Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads puts some figures to what many people in northern Indiana already knew — that Warsaw’s niche as a global orthopedics hub is no joke. Inside INdiana Business has the press release:

Now generating more than $11 billion in annual revenues, the global orthopedics sector concentrated in Warsaw, Indiana, represents more than half the U. S. market share and more than one- third of the world’s market for developing orthopedic medical devices.

How does an industry — contained within a community — continue to maintain its strong economic presence and position itself for future growth? BioCrossroads, Indiana’s organization for investment, development and advancement of the state’s signature life sciences strengths, explores and outlines a series of action-oriented responses to this question in a new published report, Warsaw, Indiana: The Orthopedics Capital of the World — An overview, analysis and blueprint for future industry and community growth…

“The Warsaw orthopedics community is one of the most robust and concentrated medical equipment development sectors in the world, and a world-class economic asset that powers growth for all of Indiana,” said David Johnson, President and CEO of BioCrossroads. “The integration of all this research has resulted in a picture of an industry cluster in Warsaw, that is currently robust, respected and globally competitive. While this orthopedics device sector has been tremendously successful to date, our research and the truly global scale of this sector’s reach make it very clear that global pressures now confronting our whole economy, including all our life sciences sectors, have sparked a broadly perceived need for a community and industry engagement strategy focused on education, talent recruitment and retention, workforce and community development to ensure sustainability.

“We’re now in the process of developing a Warsaw-based, regionally focused organizational initiative that can better define and prioritize the challenges and opportunities, and then seek funding to bring the best and most responsive ideas to life,” Johnson added.

Personally, I’m working on an article for the November/December edition of BizVoice about business aviation, which will touch on how Warsaw’s airport has made the community’s climb to the top of the orthopedic world possible. Image Air Charter, an Indiana Chamber member, has had a great deal of success chartering flights for folks in that sector, showing how different companies can truly complement each other to enhance a community.