MedTech teams up with NY BioHud Valley to develop state’s bio/med industry

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — MedTech Association, a Syracuse–based bioscience and medical-technology (bio/med) trade association for New York firms, has announced a new partnership with a similar downstate organization.

The association will team up with NY BioHud Valley to “further develop” the bio/med industry statewide, MedTech announced in a news release issued Monday.

NY BioHud Valley is a cluster-development initiative that Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. formed to establish the Hudson Valley corridor as a “global leader” in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, and medical-device industries, according to the news release.

Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. and NY BioHud Valley are located in New Windsor in Orange County, according to their websites.

The organizations will coordinate advocacy interests for state and federal priorities, cross-promote efforts to expand awareness of the industry, and involve each other in future programming, specifically in the Capital Region and the downstate area.

MedTech works to connect New York state’s bio/med sector through collaboration, education, and advocacy, the trade association said.

The downstate region — including the New York City, Long Island, and the Mid-Hudson areas — employs nearly 46,000 in direct bioscience jobs, according to the MedTech news release.

Those jobs, through “indirect and induced effects,” contribute about 128,000 total jobs across the state’s economy.

MedTech cites its own industry report, “Bio/Med Breakthroughs: 2014 Bio/Med Industry Report,” in providing the job figures, according to its news release.

The association is “excited to formally partner” with NY BioHud Valley, Jessica Crawford, president of MedTech, said in the release.

“MedTech was initially formed as a resource serving the Upstate [New York] bio/med industry. Working with NY BioHud Valley further solidifies our statewide mission and ability to advance the industry, bridging the gap between upstate and downstate. Together we will leverage our collective strengths in biotech and medical technology to ensure New York, which is among the top tier of states in the size of its bioscience industry and the scale and reach of its bioscience research, continues as a center for bio/med activity,” said Crawford.

MedTech describes drugs and pharmaceuticals as the “most prevalent industry subsector in New York” with a concentration “that is eight percent greater than that seen nationally.”

The association cites upstate New York, where the medical-device sector is 26 percent more “concentrated” than the national average.

Statewide, the more than 75,000 bioscience workers earned $5.7 billion in total wages and salaries in 2012, which translates into an average annual wage of $76,112, MedTech said.

The bio/med sector in New York has a total compensation impact of $16.8 billion (including direct, indirect and induced impacts), producing $62.6 billion toward the gross state product, the association added.

“Building a stronger life sciences cluster in the Hudson Valley requires tearing down the artificial borders separating regions in order to form compelling alliances with like-minded organizations seeking to accelerate [New York’s] growth in this critical sector,” Laurence Gottlieb, president & CEO of Hudson Valley Economic Development and founder of NY BioHud Valley, said in the MedTech news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com