President’s Message

We live in a time in which the opportunities to make a difference in the lives of patients has never been greater. Without a doubt, it’s one of the most exciting things about today’s medtech industry. There are also great challenges to overcome—including healthcare, reimbursement, and regulatory reform. Combined, these shifts have created a perfect storm which continues to have a profound impact on the medical technology industry. Yet, in the midst of this perfect storm, medtech in North Carolina is moving forward. Because, in this state, when the going gets tough, those in our medtech industry get innovative!

In previous periods of healthcare reform, the medical technology industry has produced some of the most remarkable and life-changing innovations. And North Carolina medtech innovators are the toughest, most resourceful, and most agile innovators in the country. Which is why we see our job at ibiliti as one of making sure the innovators in our community are supported with the resources they need to turn their inventions into patient-ready tools as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible.

Whether you’re a first-time entrepreneur or have decades of medtech experience, ibiliti is here to support you with a wide variety of programs that help:

• Talented people find rewarding medtech jobs
• Exciting new companies find potential investors
• Growing, successful medtech companies identify expert service companies that can provide prototyping, reimbursement, regulatory, or manufacturing assistance.

At ibiliti, we’re constantly working to identify new sources of innovation and to find new ways of evaluating the value of medtech innovation to local communities and the patients who live in them. With the help of some of our most forward-thinking allies, we’ve launched two new programs that are helping us achieve those goals. The first is called launchibiliti. This program helps identify, evaluate and develop medical technology ideas from sources that might otherwise remain untapped--including regional hospital systems like Mission Health in Asheville, NC, where we’ve established the Medical Innovation and Commercialization Alliance of Western North Carolina (MICA) program.

The second program is the nxdm Network. This is a unique collaboration among the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, BD Technologies, and ibiliti that evaluates and develops technologies to treat indigent and uninsured diabetic patients at the point of care.

People ask me to predict the future. Do I think we have reached the end of this perfect storm? When will things get back to “normal”? And they ask because ibiliti stands in the middle of all of our medtech community partners—large and small medtech companies, academic institutions, hospitals, payers, investors, health information companies, support organizations— giving us one of the best vantage points to see industry trends. I’m no shaman, but here is what I urge people to do: embrace this environment as the new reality. The old days are not coming back. The new changes have and will continue to change our medtech landscape in ways that will require us to constantly redefine the way we do business. To help you along the way, we’ll continue to share our insights with you in our blogs, at our events, and in our annual report. And, remember, no matter who you are or what role you play in the North Carolina medtech industry, ibiliti is here to help you succeed.

We remain incredibly grateful to the State of North Carolina and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center for their continued support of our organization. With their $2.5 million Center of Innovation grant, we’re working with them to enable medtech innovation to thrive and grow in North Carolina. The result is new jobs, new companies, more investments, and increased revenues for the state. We look forward to a strong, continuing collaboration with the Biotechnology Center, and with all of North Carolina’s medtech community.

True to our name and our motto, ibiliti is the center of infinite possibilities for engineered medical device, diagnostic, imaging and healthcare information technology innovation. And, every day, we’re dedicated to making your possibilities a reality. Let us know how we can help.

Your think-outside-the-box partner,

Cindy