NC Biotech to Launch Medical Device Center

N.C. Biotechnology Center issues $2.5M grant to launch medical device program
Triangle Business Journal

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center will pay out $2.5 million over four years to establish a new program to grow the state’s medical devices sector.

The Biotech Center, a nonprofit, state-supported institution, says the grant will establish what’s known as a Center of Innovation for advanced medical technologies in North Carolina.

The proposed center isn’t a physical site. Rather, it will include a team that focuses specifically on growing the advanced medical technologies sector.

Activities will include outreach to hospitals, work on improving inventors’ access to possible sources of funding and business advice, and collaboration with economic development groups.

“North Carolina is already home to a promising and robust cluster of advanced medical technologies companies,” says J. Greg Davis, president and CEO of Tryton Medical in Durham, who led the planning for the new center. “Our state’s strengths in biotechnology, information technology, regenerative medicine, medical devices and other technological disciplines provide us with an ideal opportunity to promote future economic growth based on the convergence of existing medical technologies with these complementary innovation assets.”

The Biotechnology Center is looking for a founding president for the new center.

When the program launched in May, the Biotech Center says, it plans on receiving matching grants. Private donations, conference sponsorships and other revenue streams eventually will replace the Biotechnology Center grant.