Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Gov. Patrick awards $4M for UMass Lowell med device center

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell has been promised $4 million in state funding to help fund construction of the organization's new headquarters.

Gov. Patrick appeared at an M2D2 press conference in Lowell this morning to announce the funding, which would come from a bond authorization that has already been approved by the state Legislature, according to UMass Lowell.

Plans include renovating the university's Institute for Plastics Innovation building into a new headquarters with a prototyping lab, analytical lab, machine shop, clinical product assembly, project lab, project management center and a room for plastics processing. M2D2 is a resource for the state's smaller medical device companies, offering inventors and executives affordable, and coordinated access to researchers and resources at the Lowell and Worcester campuses of the University of Massachusetts. Project coordinators at the center provide access to UMass Lowell's expertise and facilities in medical device engineering, product design, prototyping and manufacturing.

The renovations are estimated to cost $10.5 million, of which the school had already raised $4.5 million. That leaves a $2 million gap M2D2 said it hopes to fill with private and corporate donations, or grants from the federal government.