Successful INNO-VENTION leads to work on 2013 event

Global interest in Medical Main Street's inaugural INNO-VENTION 2012 has prompted Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson to begin planning INNO-VENTION 2013. "We had attendees from 14 states and viewers from as far away as Dubai, Germany, Norway and Japan who witnessed the medical revolution that's going on in Oakland County," Patterson said. "People are talking about INNO-VENTION 2012 and Medical Main Street. We are a central part of the health care and life science conversation in Michigan and beyond and we intend to remain a relevant part of that discussion." While no date or location has been set for the 2013 conference, a focus under consideration is information technology in health care. Those who watched the Oct. 4 live streaming on Detroit Public Television joined the 400 attendees from 14 states for the conference, which focused on the complete life cycle of medical device development. The conference was conudcted Oct. 3-5 at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester. Patterson, who viewed the live streaming online as he recovered from injuries suffered in an August traffic accident, said the sold-out conference clearly illustrated the increasing importance of the Medical Main Street brand on the region and the state. Patterson launched the branding strategy in 2008 to publicize the strength of the health care and life sciences in Oakland County and the region. "There are a lot of people who don't know we have more than 100,000 life science and health care jobs here--more than the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic combined," Patterson said. "That's a powerful number and we think it's significant." INNO-VENTION 2012 featured many of the top minds and companies in the medical device industry. Sessions focused on the types of medical devices doctors would like to have created in the future; medical innovations already in use that have Michigan roots; and a commercialization competition patterned after the television show "Shark Tank" where start-up companies actually made pitches in hopes of getting commitments to fund their products. Two companies were also chosen as Medical Main Street Innovators of the Year: * Southfield-based Sentio LLC, created a device to alert doctors when nerves are at risk of injury during surgery. * Kalamazoo-based Ablative Solutions Inc., developed a technology for a more streamlined treatment of hypertension. A 30-minute program on the conference is being prepared by Detroit Public Television for broadcast locally and will be offered to public television stations across the state and the country in the next few weeks. Interviews and sessions from the event can be viewed On Demand at www.MedicalMainStreet.org. In four years since its creation, 24 life science companies have expanded their presence in Oakland County or settled here, investing more than $212 million and creating or retaining more than 2,600 jobs. The county's burgeoning life science industry includes more than 4,300 life science and medical facilities. Oakland County, Michigan's Medical Main Street is a unique alliance of world-class hospitals, universities, medical device, biopharma companies and some of the country's top medical professionals creating a global center of innovation in health care, research and development, education and commercialization in the life sciences industry. Medical Main Street has assembled a board of industry leaders to provide advice and support to this initiative. The board includes: Beaumont Health System, Beckman Coulter Molecular Diagnostics, Crittenton Hospital, Ferndale Laboratories, Henry Ford Health Systems, Housey Pharmaceuticals, McLaren Health Care, MichBio, Michigan State Representative Gail Haines, Oakland Community College, Oakland University, Oxus Inc., Rockwell Medical Technologies, St. John Providence Health System and St. Joseph Mercy Oakland. Visit www.MedicalMainStreet.org to get involved in the medical solutions of the future. Published: Tue, Oct 16, 2012