Biotech Center provides $2.5M to launch medical device center
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center will invest $2.5 million in a new organization that is intended to advance development of the state’s fledgling medical device and technology industry.
A search for a director of the operation, which is being called the Advanced Medical Technology Center of Innovation, is under way.
The center is not intended to be a traditional building, however. Rather, it will be built around people whose collective purpose is to reach out “to innovators at North Carolina hospitals and research institutions; improving inventors’ access to mentors, potential licensors and innovation service providers; working with economic development organizations to attract national attention to North Carolina’s medical technologies assets; and developing new sources of funding for AMT commercialization activities,” according to the Biotech Center.
The North Carolina Biotechnology Industry Organization (NCBIO) led the planning effort for the center. The grant is one of several that the state-funded Biotech Center is awarding. It also is supporting the launch of a nanotechnology initiative in the Triad.
“The Biotechnology Center has once again demonstrated imagination and foresight in laying the groundwork for future economic development,” said NCBIO President Sam Taylor.
The grant award is the culmination of an effort stretching more than a year.
“With this support, the advanced medical technologies Center of Innovation will pilot a new multi-institutional model for accelerating commercialization of health care innovations and supporting the growth of companies that bring new medical technologies to market,” Taylor said in a statement.
The grant covers four years. The Biotech Center helped launch the medical device and technology effort with an initial grant of $100,000 last year.
The AMT Center is expected to launch in May, and backers will seek to match the Biotech Center funding. The Biotech money will be awarded in tranches based on achievement of various milestones.
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