A key piece of Gov. Gina M. Raimondo's strategy to help create more high-paying jobs is to develop a more robust medical technology and life sciences sector.
Four years ago, a group of businesses in the med-tech sector formed an industry association, named MedMates, to do just that. But so far, the process has been more potential than anything else. Hopefully, the group's recent hiring of its first full-time executive director will lead to a more substantive result.
The task is not that simple, however. The businesses in the med-tech sector range from manufacturers of medical equipment packing materials to a designer of innovative products for the medical industry. It would seem that the very diversity of the enterprises involved would work against the organization's success.
Yet that diversity could be its strength, if the MedMates members and others in the cluster embrace collaboration and connection. Rhode Island's size can lead to the kinds of intimate connections that yield economic fruit. It's just up to the businesses to make it happen. •