ECoNA — Promoting Our Region to Attract Companies

Greetings from Anaheim, California, and Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West – the world’s largest trade show for MD&M companies. More than 20,000 bioscience professionals are here, including representatives from W.L. Gore, POBA Medical, Symple Surgical, Machine Solutions and Development Engineering Sciences.

It’s no surprise that northern Arizona is so well represented at MD&M West; Flagstaff is 14 times more specialized in bioscience jobs than the rest of the country.

This is my second trade show in as many months, having attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the start of the year. The reason ECoNA attends these events is simple: we are promoting our assets to attract companies to this region, both to help them grow and to make our local economy stronger.

And we have no shortage of assets to promote. From beautiful surroundings and a high quality of life to Moonshot at NACET and NAU Innovations, our region has a lot to offer to startups and businesses looking to scale.

That’s the message we are bringing to MD&M right now and what we shared with startups at CES last month. We met with 25 companies over two days during that show, including new businesses that:

• fly drones into remote or rugged areas to deliver medical supplies; 
• gather your health data off your devices and connect them with your health records for your doctor, therapist or trainer; and
• build one of the least expensive and easiest-to-use automated external defibrillator on the market.

Any of these companies would be a great addition to our area. They represent the industries – and jobs – that we are working hard to bring to the region. Not only because they pay well, but because they are quite literally the future.

Sincerely,

Gail Jackson

Interim President & CEO
Economic Collaborative
of Northern Arizona