Building a Global Medical Device Hub Over Decades with Michael Storan, Vice President of Life Sciences at IDA Ireland

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_00] Hello everyone, welcome back to the Outcomes Rocket, Saul Marquez here, recording live at the MedTech Conference in Boston. Today I have the privilege of having Michael Storan with us. He's the Vice President of Life Sciences at IDA Ireland. I'm excited to have him here on the podcast to tell us what's going on over there, what the latest trends are and opportunities for MedTech leaders. Michael, thanks for joining us.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00] Thank you very much for having me. Of course, so you're based out of the New York office. Tell us a little bit more about what you do and what IDA Ireland is up to.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_01] So IDA Ireland is the Economic Development Agency for the Irish government. So we're a free service to multinational companies that are looking to expand overseas. And we have the privilege of working with some of the world's biggest medical device companies. In fact, 14 of the top 15 global medical device companies have operations, significant operations in Ireland.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_00] Which one are you missing?

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01] Philips. Actually, I have to say the U.S. market has been very good to us. Philips being a Dutch company with an established presence there. So it kind of makes more sense. Yeah, it makes sense. They already have quite a presence in Europe.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00] Very cool. I appreciate that. Well, very important location for business for many MedTechs. And it has been for many years. Talk to us about what the focus areas are and what exactly brings you to MedTech Conference this year.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_01] So we've been coming to the MedTech Conference for many years. So we've been here since it was a much smaller conference, now to much bigger. We love that the global leadership of these companies is here. They're very engaging. We support their businesses a lot of times in Ireland. But other times it's when companies are looking to establish a new presence overseas, these fast-growing, innovative companies.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_01] For example, Dexcom have a big presence in Ireland. They only set up a few years ago. But those types of companies, we like to meet early in their lifecycle, tell them about things they can be doing in Ireland, whether it's scale manufacturing, whether it's access to our innovation ecosystem, partners and a subsupply base in Ireland.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_01] So a lot of times these companies will come out on trips and visit different locations. We'll host them in Ireland. We'll take them. We'll set up those meetings. It's a real kind of concierge service that we offer these companies. And again, totally free to them.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00] That's great. What would you say are the most popular towns, like the top three towns for MedTech in Ireland?

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_01] Okay. So I think Galway is the best known as a global rep, much like Minnesota here in the U.S., Minneapolis. Galway has a world-class reputation. It's had a long, well-established medical device industry. Some of the top players, Medtronic, Abbott, Merit Medical, Boston Scientific have large manufacturing presence.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01] But more recently, they've added more innovation. So they've always had manufacturing excellence and the R&D associated with that around process improvements and process excellence. Now they're moving earlier in the innovation to product design, manufacturability, and co-locating that with their manufacturing has been really advantageous for those kind of skills and disciplines.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00] It makes a lot of sense. And so as you think about sort of key focus areas and shifts you're seeing in the market, what would you say are some of the biggest shifts that are happening right now?

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01] Obviously, AI is a big disruption to the industry. People are still trying to figure it out. There is applications, of course, across manufacturing. We have in Ireland, digital manufacturing Ireland, which was an IDA investment to keep the industry up to date with best practices across digital manufacturing, whether that be digital twins, whether that be optimization, vision systems. And we also, so there's a software, immersive software program in the University of Limerick. It was set up by the Collison Brothers.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01] So you know the Collison Brothers, you set up Stripe, and they wanted to make that the best software development program in the world. It's called immersive because they start on day one with real world problems and, you know, tech industry, financial services industry. But the real growth area for them now is health. They want to get involved in health. And we have companies that we're supporting that have people working in the immersive software program, have faculty dedicated to health and see the opportunity for AI applications in healthcare.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00] That's great. You know, and shifting gears, so in New York, do you get to do much of the stuff you'd be able to do at home in Ireland?

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_01] So I moved from the West Coast, so I've kind of got different life experiences. The West Coast, it was companies, we have more established presence, I would say. When I mentioned companies like J&J, they've been in Ireland for a very long time. When I moved to the West Coast, we didn't have that. We were, it was more the new innovative companies. They're well-established now, but say Edwards Life Sciences didn't have a presence in Ireland, but they were fast-growing. And similarly with Dexcom.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01] So when we started those conversations, they were younger companies who had established presence in the U.S., good market share, but they wanted proximity to other global markets. So they were looking at Asia and they were looking at Europe. And luckily, both actually chose to establish a presence in Ireland. And both their employee grants and the revenues have tripled since in the last few years, particularly when they came into Ireland and they'd grown their market share. So obviously been a big success for them on a corporate level.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah. Where did this all start? What is the history of this innovation and this focus?

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01] Okay. Well, I said I wouldn't give long-winded answers and feel free to edit however you want. I want to hear. It is very interesting, I think. Okay. So Ireland was neutral, not an active participant in World War II. So part of Marshall's plans was to develop the European economy. Ireland was very agriculturally focused. So IDA actually stands for Industrial Development Agency. People think it's Ireland, one of the I is Ireland, but that's actually what it stands for.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_01] So it was to move Ireland from an agricultural, rural-based economy into industry. And the example given was Henry Ford set up the first Ford factory, manufacturing factory outside the U.S., outside Detroit even, in Cork in Ireland. And he had Irish heritage. So the idea was, is there other U.S. industrialists who have a link or affiliation to Ireland that might come here to set up? And this is after World War II. So Ireland became business-friendly.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_01] Our legal system is the same as the U.S., common law. We lowered our tax. So corporate taxation remains very low. It's a competitive filler or a lever that companies take advantage of. And then we invested in education and the skill base. So all of those things came together to, and Abbott were the first, I have to give a shout-out to Abbott in 1949. They were one of the first. In 49? Wow. In 49. So that's the birth of IDA and the birth kind of our industry being in Ireland.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01] It really took off in the 80s and 90s, and the real big companies started coming in, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and adding to that ecosystem. But now you have decades of experience across quality, across people who are able to run manufacturing facilities, optimize manufacturing facilities, gain efficiencies, a subsupply base across molding, plastic, extrusion, catheters, everything they need, partners on the design process, partners across contract manufacturing. So it's hard to replicate that system.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_01] It's well-established over decades.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00] I appreciate that history. It's really good to know.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_01] It's a long answer.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00] So it doesn't stand for Irish Devices Association or agency. No.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_01] There's no Ireland in. That's the big surprise. But, you know, industrial development. Industrial development. It was an act of government, the Industrial Development Act that started IDA way back then. And there was U.S. consultants involved in what is business looking for. So we continue to be nimble and adaptable. I love that. And I think as a small country, too, we do have the opportunity to listen to industry and immediately feed that back to government as we evolve our offering. And that's really good to be able to do business.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00] Well, I think that's brilliant and inspiring. And it shows you the power of ideas. You can have an idea. And when you have a group of people that are ready to execute on it, amazing things happen. And you guys have done just that in Ireland for medical devices. Well, I really want to say thank you, Michael, for the time here today. If people want to learn more about how the agency can help them or what services are offered and how you can make an impact, like where can they visit?

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. So IDA Ireland has a website, IDAireland.com. We have offices across the U.S. in all major markets and cities. And we have dedicated life sciences professionals in each of those offices. So if you click on our website, you'll see profiles. And please reach out.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00] Brilliant. Brilliant. Well, folks, there you have it. All the information that you need to optimize your organization. Here with Michael Storan, the vice president of life sciences for IDA Ireland. Although in the show notes, you're going to find all the ways to get in touch with him and the team there. That is the intel. The move is yours. And, Michael, I want to thank you for spending time with us. Thank you.