Mayo to announce new med-accelerator partnership with Boston Scientific

The collaboration could spawn new startups that could diversify the city’s workforce.

One Discovery Square in Rochester.
The Mayo Clinic-Boston Scientific collaboration will be located in One Discovery Square in Rochester, Minn.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News file

Mayo Clinic and medical device giant Boston Scientific are slated to announce a new med-tech accelerator Monday.

The collaboration will be located in One Discovery Square, a new building in Rochester adjacent to Mayo Clinic that's meant to attract medical technology startups.

Andy Danielsen is chair of Mayo Clinic Ventures, an office that develops new inventions coming out of the clinic. He said the idea is to bring ideas born inside Mayo Clinic, Boston Scientific and elsewhere to life and to attract further investment in them.

"We'll take early ideas in, then we apply both financial backing, the clinical expertise and engineering expertise, spin it back out of the accelerator as a startup company that will hopefully attract capital," Danielsen said.

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Getting new startups off the ground is a big goal of the Destination Medical Center. The long-term plan is for those startups to grow in Rochester, simultaneously diversifying the city's workforce.

"It's certainly a goal to have some of those companies remain in Rochester, or if not that, at least in Minnesota," Danielsen said.

Both Mayo and Boston Scientific have committed millions over three years to the new collaboration.

The new accelerator is the product of a decade-old product development partnership between Mayo and Boston Scientific. In that time, the two organizations have together filed eight patents and collaborated on two clinical trials.