GRAND RAPIDS – The West Michigan Medical Device Consortium has gone live with its new web site, better to serve the more than 20 life sciences companies that have joined the group since it launched in December 2007.
Established in the summer of 2007 through the support of the West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative, the WMMDC was formed to give medical device companies throughout the region the opportunity to collaborate together, and promote their specialized expertise in the medical device industry from concept design through manufacturing.
“Michigan currently ranks fourth in the Midwest in the number of medical device establishments with 448, but that number is growing, especially here in West Michigan,” said Linda Chamberlain, executive director of WMSTI. “WMSTI launched WMMDC.Org to help the consortium better connect with each other, the West Michigan region and the life science industry as whole.”
The WMMDC began with seven founding members to focus on product innovation, business collaboration and advancement of lean manufacturing technologies. New members include Alticor, DornerWorks, Ltd., Safari Circuits, Sterile Systems, Micromachine, Motion Dynamics, Skytron, UFP Technologies, Twisthink, InformMed, Tooling Systems Group, Keystone Manufacturing, MarketLab and Tekna.
Founding members are ATEK Medical, Autocam Medical, Emerald Medical Devices and Supplies, Inrad Inc., Medbio Inc. Rose Technologies and Surge Medical.
The West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative is a partnership among the Right Place, Inc., Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Valley State University, the City of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Community College, Spectrum Health, Saint Mary’s Health Care and Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. Its mission is to grow and diversify the community economy by creating an environment that inspires innovation and supports the commercialization of science and technology.
Since its inception, the Initiative has assisted more than 70 clients in commercialization of new products, including funding through receipt of more than $7M in federal and state grant awards. The Initiative has also supported projects and the creation of businesses, such as ClinXus and Grand River Aseptic Pharmaceutical Packaging that build regional life sciences commercialization infrastructure.
