$2.5M Grant to Help North Carolina Grow Medical Device Sector

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center wants to help the state’s medical device sector grow, and it’s coughing up $2.5 million to aid in that growth.

The center, a nonprofit, state-supported institution, said the four-year grant will create a Center for Innovation that will focus on advanced medical technology.

Advanced medical technologies include complex medical devices, medical instruments and diagnostics, as well technologies that incorporate elements of biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology and regenerative medicine.

The grant will fund activities designed to foster the growth of medical innovation, including reaching out to hospitals, providing help to improve inventors’ access to funding and business advice, and working with economic development groups.

“North Carolina is already home to a promising and robust cluster of advanced medical technologies companies,” said J. Greg Davis, president and CEO of Tryton Medical in Durham, N.C. He led the planning for the new center.

The $2.5 million follows a $100,000 planning grant that was awarded last year to a group of business, academic, government and nonprofit leaders in North Carolina.