Medtronic today devotes approximately 10% of its sales to research and development efforts. To ensure that it continues to introduce innovative products and therapies, about 20% of this research budget is designated for new ventures. The company operates 26 state-of-the-art research centres around the globe and works closely with the world's leading physicians and scientists in conducting research projects and clinical evaluations of new products. These partnerships enable researchers and physicians to combine their efforts to continually evaluate and improve both new and established technologies.
Internally, a number of organisations encourage creativity and innovation by promoting the exchange of research data and technical information across the company. The Medtronic Forum is an organisation for the company's technical community; the Bakken Society, named after Medtronic's co-founder, is an honorary society that recognises employees who have significantly furthered Medtronic's technical and scientific progress. In 2007 the company published studies included reports on the removal of bacterial colonisation in chronic sinus infections and the development of minimally invasive endovascular therapies to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms.
In a bid to grow a services business, Medtronic is focusing considerable R&D effort into wireless communications. For example, in 2007 it won regulatory approval for an implantable defibrillator that links up with hospital equipment or a home monitoring device. Along with three other companies, CardioMEMS, St Jude Medical and Remon Medical Technologies, Medtronic is racing to market a device for congestive heart failure, which afflicts many millions of people worldwide. Once implanted, the device will measure pressure and fluid inside a patient's heart and wirelessly send the data to an external unit so that patients will be alerted to abnormalities at an early stage.
Medtronic aims to increase development of cell therapy and in collaboration with Genzyme, one of the worlds foremost biotechnology companies, is working to develop solutions for unmet medical needs in cardiovascular diseases through the combination of biologics and therapy delivery devices. Joint ventures such as this also work to attract leading academic, research and biotech innovators in the field to advance the treatment of heart disease. Lastly, as it builds up the scale of new acquisitions, Medtronic has bought rival spinal surgery medical devices maker Kyphon for $3.9bn in cash. Medtronic's spinal business already accounts for 21% of its revenues.
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