2010 Medical Innovation Summit

This past week I spent time at the 2010 Medical Innovation Summit held by the Cleveland Clinic at the Intercontinental Hotel. I did not know what to expect, but had seen previous summits advertised and it seemed to get bigger every year. This year's event focused on obesity. The speaker list included CEOs of Stryker, Medtronic, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi-aventis and many others.

I popped in each day and was amazed by many things. First, the attendance. The summit was packed and most of the people came from out of town. It was a good three days for the taxis in Cleveland because the hotel taxi stand was as busy as a New York City Hotel during the holidays. Second, the type of attendee. The population of registrants ranged from doctors and PHD researchers, big company CEOs, venture capitalists to members of the press, including MSNBC, CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal. Third, the content. At 7:00 am, Wednesday, I attended a live video feed of three gastric bypass surgeries. Performed by three doctors who were as relaxed as visitors to a Starbucks on a Sunday morning. I had trouble eating breakfast after the surgeries, but it was amazing to see.

I had a great conversation with three venture capital companies, all from Boston. They flew in with no contacts and no previous attendance history. All three came in looking for opportunities to fund spin off companies from the Cleveland Clinic. The Cleveland Clinic Innovations staff had set up one of the largest booths and had it staffed with employees who were there to talk about portfolio companies. The staff was actively working the crowd seeking out any venture capital prospect. Buttonholing them and introducing CCI and what it could offer venture capital companies. It was impressive. These companies need money and the CCI staff is determined to find capital to help them grow.

If you wanted to feel good about the future of Cleveland, attending this conference would have made you feel great. At least one venture capital company asked me for help in finding them offices for their local Cleveland office. They have decided they want to be closer to where they perceive the action is, here in Cleveland. The ideas coming out of this conference and the vibrant feeling you got just being there was invigorating. This year's conference was apparently larger than previous years, maintaining the trend over the past 4 years. Chris Coburn and his staff is to be commended for growing this summit to be among the most important in the country for health care.