Warsaw Indiana Ups Ortho Development Game

Warsaw, Indiana, the self-described capital of the orthopedic world, does not want to stand still and promises to help its entrepreneurs speed up their innovation process.

On April 5, 2016, OrthoWorx, the area’s orthopedic economic development promoter, announced the formation of AcceLinx, an organization that will leverage “the unique assets of the Northern Indiana orthopedic medical device industry cluster, which has the largest concentration of such activity in the world.”

Sheryl Conley, OrthoWorx’s president and CEO, said the group conceived and developed the AcceLinx initiative “to capitalize on the unprecedented concentration of intellectual capital and device industry experience in northern Indiana. Regional industry and service providers offer nearly any capability required by an entrepreneur to advance his or her business plan.”

Businesses will rely on AcceLinx’s in-house staff or its network of experts to receive support and resources during their development stages. The new group will initially open in OrthoWorx’s offices in Warsaw, then move to an independent location within the next year. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered up to $1.2 million in funding over six years to help AcceLinx get started. The city of Warsaw also pledged $500, 000. Work is underway to secure other partnerships to fund the rest of the initiative’s six-year, $4.8-million operational budget.

An OrthoWorx statement said the innovation process in medical devices has become more complex because of a variety of factors, including a complicated web of regulatory clearances that are required to market and gain reimbursement for products. “The path from concept to a mature company in medical devices often takes six or more years. Large companies are more likely to acquire technologies or products that are further along in their development cycle than in the past to assure that regulatory paths, clinical performance and commercial potential are well understood. That means entrepreneurs can benefit from guidance and technical/production support to develop and test their concepts from an economic as well as a medical perspective.”

“Warsaw and the Northern Indiana region has been the orthopedic device capital of the world for more than 100 years, now supporting nearly 11, 000 associates today, ” said Jim Schellinger, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. “With rapid changes in life sciences today, the orthopedic industry needs a supportive environment to create more great-paying jobs in Indiana. AcceLinx will help expand the talent base, economic activity and employment opportunities in the Hoosier state by preserving the industry and by fostering medical device innovation.”

Dr. Joe Thallmer, the mayor of Warsaw said states and countries everywhere want to lead the next great wave of medical device innovation. “We have an advantage in that competition given the talent and suppliers in our community, but we can’t stand still. We want Warsaw to still be the undisputed center of the orthopedic technology world 50 years from now, and that requires action now.”

The orthopedic medical device industry cluster in Indiana began in 1895 with the founding of what is today DePuy Synthes Joint Reconstruction.

Other firms, including Zimmer and Biomet (then separate companies; now merged), were also launched in Warsaw, which has led to an unprecedented concentration of medical device firms and direct employment of approximately 7, 000 in Kosciusko County alone.