Tap into Medical Alley’s Academy Training

Medical Alley is a powerhouse in global healthcare innovation, connecting startups and Fortune 100 companies to transform healthcare solutions. Headquartered in Minnesota, it’s one of the world’s largest medtech clusters.

At the 2024 MedTech Conference in Canada, MTPConnect and Medical Alley renewed an MOU to strengthen collaboration and support for Australian medtech companies looking to expand internationally.

Now, Medical Alley is launching a game-changing online training program, Medical Alley Academy, designed to help innovators move into the US market - a great opportunity for Australian companies to tap into.

Joining Caroline Duell to talk about this exciting initiative are Medical Alley CEO Roberta (Bobbie) Dresson and MTPConnect CEO Stuart Dignam.

What’s in this episode?

·       How Medical Alley is shaping the future of medtech

·       The changing trends and challenges in the US medtech ecosystem

·       All about Medical Alley’s new online Academy training 

·       Key opportunities for Australian medtech companies to expand to the U.S.

Tune in for expert insights and actionable advice for taking your medtech innovation global! 🎧✨

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to MTPConnect's Mission
• 1:38 What Medical Alley is all about
• 7:55 Thinking globally
• 10:05 Collaboration Between Australia and Medical Alley
• 13:11 Launching Medical Alley Academy
• 19:03 Trends and Innovations in MedTech
• 22:22 Outro - podcast

Transcript

Natalie Vella: 0:01

This is the MTP Connect podcast, connecting you with the people behind the life-saving innovations driving Australia's growing life sciences sector from bench to bedside for better health and wellbeing. Mtp Connect acknowledges the traditional owners of country that this podcast is recorded on and recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are Australia's first storytellers and the holders of first science knowledge.

Caroline Duell: 0:33

Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Caroline Duell. Medical Alley is a global network of healthcare organisations on a mission to drive innovation and transform healthcare solutions for people worldwide. Headquartered in Minnesota, medical Alley is one of the biggest medtech clusters in the world, with members from startups to Fortune 100 companies, and at the 2024 Medtech Conference in Canada, mtp Connect signed an MOU with Medical Alley in an ongoing collaboration to support the growth of medtech companies between the two countries. It's about providing commercial and collaboration opportunities for Australian medtech innovators and setting up some networks. Medical Alley is launching an online training program which is going to support Australian innovators who are keen to expand into the US market.

Caroline Duell: 1:26

Here to tell us more about that is their CEO, Roberta Dressen. Also joining me on the podcast is MTP Connect's CEO, stuart Dignam. Great to have you on the podcast today, Bobby, all the way from Minnesota in the afternoon there in the US, and I wanted to ask you really about what the Medical Alley Association does with its network of hundreds of healthcare organizations in Minnesota. What do you do for those organizations and what's your mission?

Roberta Dressen: 2:02

Big question.

Roberta Dressen: 2:03

So our mission is to activate and to amplify healthcare transformation, and if we are doing a good job at that, we are seen by our vision, which is to be the epicenter of health innovation and care, and the piece that's really fun to tell you about, as I described that, is that that was the vision statement to be the epicenter 40 years ago by our founder, earl Bakken, and I would say and I think you all can relate to this better than a lot of other folks we talked to because of the cool work you're engaged in as well I would say that it has never been more relevant than before. Between the entrepreneurs, we're seeing the global interconnection companies percolating up with just simple ideas to complex ideas and the forces that are behind them, like an MTP Connect or a medical alley, to help them explore whether or not they can be successful. I think that the energy is there, there's funding there, there's funding there, there's science there in ways to make great progress on behalf of populations, because we know that innovation is what drives future of populations in terms of growth. Medical Alley itself, at its core roots, is an economic, trade and development organization, and within that we're engaged in multifaceted activities. What we do what we call innovating, elevating and transforming.

Roberta Dressen: 3:36

On the innovation side, for us it's all about innovation. So the STARTS program that we do a lot with out of Australia, for our elevating piece, it's about what you just referenced, caroline, it is our network. So we have a network of over 800 organizations, so not just companies. So think public-private partnerships, academia, payers, providers, med tech, bio pharma. We talk about the ecosystem and the best and the easiest way to think about that is think about the three of us. We're patients, we're families, we need care. So think about anything that touches a patient and go all along that continuum, from both what we'd call preventive care and holistic care and social determinants of health which in a minute you'll hear me talk about health equity all the way to what we think about determinants of health which in a minute you'll hear me talk about health equity all the way to what we think about in terms of interventions, which we're very familiar with in terms of med tech and pharma, and then pulling it through even to end of life for more holistic care and hospice care and home care and the like. And so within those organizations, for our network, that's probably the thing that the average individual is most familiar with around Medical Alley, because they think of the events that we do and the places that we are and what we foster On our transform piece. For us, that's about health equity, and the best way that I know how to define that is really around access, affordability and quality. That's how we unpack that and within that, we've made a commitment our board and I have to give them all the credit like.

Roberta Dressen: 5:15

This is pre-Bobby Dressen. This is back in 2018-17, which is really kind of cool because this was pre-2020, any sort of global pandemic. In the state of Minnesota, it was pre-tragedy of George Floyd, but they made a decision then that they wanted to reduce barriers to care for underserved populations, conversations and more so. What they were seeing, and for those of us who are parents, was that it was really percolating up with our youth in terms of isolation and social media. I mean, that was in 2018, 19, and just know what we see today, right, with even people being remote so much and not having interface or not having the opportunity to be with others. So that's the health equity piece or not having the opportunity to be with others.

Roberta Dressen: 6:04

So that's the health equity piece, and then, layered through everything we do, and it won't surprise you is what we call our insights and advocacy. So that's our trade association piece back at our roots. But it's really about policy. So, in healthcare, what do we? When we think about healthcare and we think about how healthcare emerges, no matter what country we're in, it's about policy and setting it on behalf of public health and then putting things in place to either regulate it, create quality around it, create reimbursement around it, but that's the whole component of that. So that's Medical Alley today. That's the work that we're engaged in and that's how it's integrated.

Roberta Dressen: 6:50

And while our foundation and our headquarters are in Minnesota since 1984, we've been global and I'd say our biggest growth area right now has been a focus on how else we can have touch points in the United States, because we pride ourselves in that as much as we want to draw you to us that if Minnesota is not the best place, we do have the connections now in the United States to help you get there. So if you, if what we have a need, what you need right now isn't here. We now have connections in the new hubs that you're very familiar with because you've been visiting them Boston right or Durham, north Carolina or Austin, texas, or the new Western Front of Denver and Boulder. You know those places are places, nashville, tennessee. We have touch points there.

Stuart Dignam: 7:43

And you're right, bobbi, nashville, tennessee. We have touch points there. And you're right, bobby. We were lucky enough to come see you and your team and all of your network back in October of last year with a delegation of Australian companies and we saw that you are the epicenter in the United States for medtech firsthand. Little companies, big companies, the university, mayo Clinic and I think our companies were kind of blown away by the opportunities in Minnesota, so much so that several Australian companies have chosen to base themselves in Minnesota as part of their kind of US market entry strategy. That interaction, that international engagement, thinking globally, how important is that to you and to Medical Alley?

Roberta Dressen: 8:31

Well, it's absolutely key to us. It's why we exist. You know, when you think about the resources that are here for any organization choosing to take a look at Minnesota, I mean you've got the largest medical device manufacturer. Through Medtronic you have the world's top hospital, mayo Clinic. That's where I was all morning this morning was down at Mayo. I sit on the board for what's becoming their Discovery Square, which will have wet labs and dry labs in different places for companies to locate and to be able to do joint research with Mayo. That is huge, you know.

Roberta Dressen: 9:08

We have United Health Group, which is the largest national private insurer. So anything we build it isn't, you know, in health care, it isn't build it and they'll come. We have to figure out that reimbursement piece. And how fortunate are we that all of these insurers that are at our table Right to have a conversation about what that looks like. And then, of course, we've got the University of Minnesota, which is another premier research institution that has some new relationships as well in Australia. And then we have other universities at our table University of Miami, university of Oklahoma, who has dry and wet labs ready today. We have Nebraska at our table. We have Fort Collins out of Denver, which is one of the biggest orthopedic research centers. So we've Durham, north Carolina, duke, which people would immediately resonate with. So we have lots of opportunity there from that standpoint for companies.

Caroline Duell: 10:04

We saw you a couple of months ago over in the US and we were delighted to re-sign or extend a memorandum of understanding with Medical LA Association, which is an important collaboration for MTP Connect and has been, you know, a long-term relationship. How important are those connections between sort of Minnesota and Australia.

Roberta Dressen: 10:27

Well, australia is, I'd say. I have to be careful.

Roberta Dressen: 10:30

Now we're putting this on tape, but you're, like, I'd say, one of our favorite relationships. It's all about the people right At the end of the day. But what's really interesting to me and I've watched, both with my medical alley work but also when I was at Medtronic because I had Asia Pacific as part of my territory, as well as when I was at Boston Scientific because our chief medical officer was from you know, dr Meredith was from there and Melbourne to be exact and the amount of innovation and the commitment that the country has been making and the investment. When I look at your, when I learned about your angel tax credit or what we'd call angel, but your tax credits and your incentive programs for companies, it's pretty magnificent and I you know, to me that's a belief not only in your country and its future and innovation, but it's also equally a belief in your people to be able to generate that and to have the opportunity then to explore, because we all know that 85, 95% of these companies fail and it's the ones that percolate up.

Roberta Dressen: 11:38

But then you look at your companies that have percolated up and even the ones that have come to the United States and you've had great success and it's because you've got that infrastructure there and that commitment and passion. That's what I love about Australia is that willingness to take that risk and then to really put it forward, or, to use an American statement, you know to put your money where your mouth is. You just you're with them, side by side and you know, stuart and Caroline, the work that you all do speaks for it, day in, day out and, as a result, your companies trust you, they follow you and they're there to use you as a resource in ways that we don't always see elsewhere, particularly as we get on other continents.

Stuart Dignam: 12:22

As you say, the people is the most important thing. The Minnesota government and the Australian government definitely prioritise medical science and medical technologies in terms of government policy settings and, as you say, incentives to make those investments small to medium enterprises here in Australia who have, you know, on their bucket list, that strategic goal of cracking the US market.

Caroline Duell: 12:54

One of the ways that you know we've been, I guess, helping companies join the dots is taking trade delegations to visit places like Medical Alley and to kind of see the infrastructure and the support and what's possible in the US infrastructure and the support and what's possible in the US. You're launching a new online training program for medtech companies wanting to commercialize and enter the US market. Can you tell us a bit more about it? It sounds really interesting.

Roberta Dressen: 13:21

I would love to. One of the reasons that we're launching this is because of Australia. So we pay attention and listen to what our partners tell us, and we've been hearing from Australia the last couple of years, from your entrepreneurs, that they were really looking for information on how to navigate and enter the US market and to understand clearly what some of those differences were. And so we sat down and we said what is a way that we could be helpful to both our global partners, but also to those in the United States? Because when you peel that back, the information you need is really not different. It may be new information to you as a listener, but it's not different in terms of what those components are. So we put together a new program called the Medical Alley Academy. We are officially launching it. In March of this year, we made the act of choice that it would be online and that we're actually are. We made the active choice and we want to thank you very much for running it and launching it in Australia.

Roberta Dressen: 14:40

First, what's this going to do? Our first one is focused on MedTech. It brings modules, a series of five, that are focused on what I would label as the total product life cycle. So when we're engaged in a MedTech device that we want to bring to market, we need to think about that device holistically. That means we need to not only think about the engineering and the science of the why and the what and what problem we're solving for. But in an ideal world, we would start that process with all the players around the table that are ultimately going to touch it for the success of its outcome long term. So we would be talking upfront about how is this going to get reimbursed? Who's going to pay for it, because it's not a world of build it and they will come. We would be talking about is this a product that needs to go through a regulatory process by an agency? In the United States that agency is the FDA. There's a variety of different classifications and, based on the classification, there's different processes that are associated with it. We would be talking as well about what needs to happen in terms of how you get market valuation and what you ultimately price your product at, what that value proposition is meaning, how it's differentiated, how you might measure outcomes.

Roberta Dressen: 16:08

We're all very what do I want to say? We're well tethered into the idea of a clinical trial, but clinical trials are looking at the impact at that moment we're not always measuring long-term outcomes or an outcome in a way to tell a story differently and that actually becomes your value proposition long term for that reimbursement side. And then there's just the whole total market focus from a marketing standpoint. So we've pulled together experts who, in many cases, have both designed, launched and exited multiple companies very successfully. We've pulled together experts that are well steeped both in education and in practice on things like regulatory quality, safety, reimbursement, the things that matter there.

Roberta Dressen: 17:01

We've put it into a series of video, online learning. We've put worksheets in place for a person to be able to practice. We have bibliography, additional information within each module that gives you podcasts and or additional videos to watch or a book to read. So think of each piece as self-contained but as an integrative flow from beginning to end. And that's Medical Alley Academy. We're hopeful you will begin to then see modules in other areas, such as biopharma, such as digital health. That's the long-range plan and even woven into that, we hope to do some in-person workshops in another year where folks could get together, and that's where we'd love to come to Australia and actually do a workshop with you and have you bring to the table what you love to share and us to do it with you. And, as you know, we've been talking we're going to come see you in 2025. We're trying to figure out that timing, but that's another trip that we want to make and come see what we can do together.

Caroline Duell: 18:08

Wow, well, that sounds really exciting and we'll be welcomed, I think, by the sector here for that incredible knowledge and knowledge sharing. Really, stuart, what do you think about all of that?

Stuart Dignam: 18:22

Look, I think it's incredibly exciting and I guess the question is when will it be available, bobby?

Roberta Dressen: 18:30

My goal is that you'll be able to access it by the end of March.

Stuart Dignam: 18:34

Anything that can build that knowledge about how we work with each other, how we do business together, is incredibly valuable, and there are deep complexities in our sector that we need to properly understand if we're going to create viable medtech businesses. So looking forward to it and looking forward to welcoming you to Australia at some point this year.

Roberta Dressen: 18:59

Thank you, yeah, we're looking forward to it too.

Caroline Duell: 19:02

You've spent a lifetime career to this point in the med tech sector in America. What are you seeing now coming through in terms of innovation? Is there any sort of theme or trend or med tech kind of concept that's really going to blow us away?

Roberta Dressen: 19:20

Well, I don't think any differently than what you're seeing, but we're definitely seeing some trends right. So we're cautiously watching AI and what its impact can be. I would say the word cautious is the norm right now, because when we're dealing with human life, it's very different than, perhaps, a Delta Airlines using it for hospitality purposes. The other thing that we've been watching and I know you're experiencing the same thing is what's happening on the whole stem cell biocellular. I mean precision healthcare. I was just down at Mayo today work that they're doing with a new company that's been launched internally by their previous chair of their business development. The person who we all know, jim Rogers, is now leading a digital pathology based on AI and precision medicine, where it's coming off slides and the ability to diagnose diseases sooner rather than later, and then with that precision treatment. We've been talking about this for a long time, but we're actually seeing it evolve now and come forward, and it's because I guess it's such complicated science, but it's been simplified and more and more people are able to work with it in labs and so the scale of it is greater and with that comes greater research and the opportunity. Those are the things we're seeing right now, and then couple that with that.

Roberta Dressen: 20:49

The world is just constantly a smaller and smaller place. I mean, look at how we're talking today, look at how our scientists are sharing information, those integrations and sharing between universities you know the work that's been going on between Australia and the University of Minnesota or MIT, or at Harvard or Cambridge. I mean it's all happening and with that, each new learning and then opportunity to serve mankind. I mean that's why I'm in healthcare. I love it. I love how you can really, when someone gets sick, that you know and the opportunity to reach out and maybe find out what the different possibilities are is pretty incredible these days and it can be done as simply by sending an email. So, yeah, that's what I'm seeing and I'm excited for it, and I'm excited for our next generation of scientists and all that they are percolating up.

Caroline Duell: 21:43

Well, thank you for sharing your passion and your hopes for the sector, and we're really looking forward to hosting you out here in Australia. We can't wait for you and Medical Alley to be back here down under and helping to promote this fantastic new training program, medical Alley Academy.

Roberta Dressen: 22:03

Thank you so much. I sincerely mean that we couldn't do this without you. So thank you for your partnership and your trust in us, and please know that we are always here for you in any way that we can be.

Stuart Dignam: 22:17

Great to catch up, Bobbi.

Caroline Duell: 22:20

You've been listening to the MTP Connect podcast. This podcast is produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people here in Narm, melbourne. Thanks for listening to the show. If you love what you heard, share our podcast and follow us for more until next time.