Medtronic around the world

From its earliest years, Medtronic has invested in bringing products to patients and physicians of the world. Today, nearly half of the company's revenue comes from outside the United States.

Medtronic functions as an integrated global network, with Medtronic people and resources located as close to patients and physicians as possible. The company is present in all markets and operates Research & Development centres and production facilities worldwide.

Corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA) have been enlarged in 2001 in anticipation of Medtronic's continuous growth expected for the next five to ten years. The new headquarters house a state-of-the-art research centre, as well as an education and training facility that will attract more than 5,000 visits each year from the world's most renowned physicians.

Outside the United States, Medtronic's activities are organized in three geographical areas: the Americas with headquarters in Minneapolis; Europe, Middle East and Africa, with headquarters in Tolochenaz (Switzerland); and the Asia/Pacific area managed from Tokyo (Japan).

Through a series of strategic mergers and acquisitions, Medtronic has expended its product lines and gained access to new markets - all related to the innovative medical technology pioneered by Medtronic. These alliances bring technology for high-speed instruments essential to neurological surgery (PS Medical and Midas Rex); spinal and cranial surgery (Sofamor Danek); vascular products (Arterial Vascular Engineering); external defibrillators to help people survive sudden cardiac arrest (Physio-Control); specialty medical devices for heart/lung bypass surgery and long-term respiratory support (AVECOR); surgical products to treat ear, nose and throat disorders (Xomed); implantable and disposable insulin pumps for the management of diabetes (Medtronic MiniMed).

Many healthcare companies never expand beyond the one technology that made them initially successful. This is not the case with Medtronic. Pacemaker technology continues to evolve with the times, and advances in technology and medical science have given Medtronic opportunities to extend 'cardiac rhythm management' beyond pacemakers. Defibrillators introduced in the 1990s, for example, incorporate software that is even more complex than that of pacemakers. Medtronic's latest defibrillator has 13 million transistors.

To guarantee quality, the company produces the circuits at its own microelectronics facility. The research and development vitality of Medtronic ensures continued product breakthroughs that will benefit physicians and their patients around the world; the financial and human investments made by the company in R&D are huge and will continue to grow.