Medtronic Opens New Customer Innovation Centre In Galway, Ireland

Centre Will Facilitate Collaboration Between Physicians and Engineers to Develop New Innovations in Medical Technology

Medtronic, Inc. recently opened a new Customer Innovation Centre in Galway, Ireland, providing state of the art facilities for physicians and Medtronic engineers to work together on developing new therapies that will improve clinical outcomes, provide economic value and increase access to quality healthcare for patients around the world. The Centre was opened by EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research and Science Ms. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.

The new Customer Innovation Centre is located at the Medtronic Galway site, which is a centre of excellence for the development and manufacture of a number of the company's key medical technologies for the treatment of cardiovascular and cardiac rhythm disease. The Centre includes Hybrid, Demonstration and Collaboration Labs that will provide the best environment for visitors to get hands-on experience with the company's latest technologies, and where physicians and Medtronic engineers will be able to work together on future technology developments. The facility also includes the latest digital communication technology for global networking, 3D printing facilities to prototype new ideas and extensive training and education facilities. As many as 500 physicians and customers are expected to visit the centre every year.

"Innovation is the lifeblood of our company and it is through close collaboration with physicians that many of our innovations are developed," said Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and CEO. "Physicians acutely understand the clinical needs of patients while we can bring our engineering capabilities and experience with global healthcare challenges to develop innovative new therapies that provide both clinical and economic value."

The new CIC cost 7.7 million Euros (US $10M) to build and has received a grant from the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) in Ireland. Barry O'Leary, CEO, IDA Ireland said: "Medtronic is a global leader in the development of medical devices.  Their new Customer Innovation Centre is hugely important in terms of positioning Ireland internationally as a centre of excellence for innovation and R&D in the Medical Technology space.  The choice of Galway as the location of this strategically important centre for Medtronic is a significant endorsement of Ireland's business environment and talented workforce."

Gerard Kilcommins, vice president, Global Vascular Operations and general manager of Medtronic's Galway Site, said that this investment is based on the success of the current customer programme that has been running at the Galway facility for a number of years: "At Medtronic, collaboration is the key to innovation.  Each year millions of patients benefit from therapies that are the result of collaboration with physicians, scientists and engineers who are passionate about advancing medical technology. This new centre will create greater opportunities for collaboration with customers from across the globe in order to better understand their needs and the needs of their patients and together develop therapies that meet today's healthcare challenges."

About Medtronic
Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is the global leader in medical technology - alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world. For more information, visit www.medtronic.com.