- Medical Alley Tour
- Financial Tour
- The Startup Scene
- It’s Techier Here
- It’s Outdoorsier Here
- It's Sportier Here
- It’s Artier Here
- It's Homier Here
- It's Splashier Here
- Biz Is Bigger Here
- Food & Ag Careers Here
Warning: Use of undefined constant get_the_ID - assumed 'get_the_ID' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /home/customer/www/makeitmsp.org/public_html/tours/wp-content/themes/make-it-msp/templates/parts/header.php on line 18
The Greater Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP) region is home to some of the most innovative, respected, and renowned healthcare, research, and medical engineering organizations on the planet. We call this global epicenter of health innovation and care Medical Alley. From medical device giants to health insurance leaders and the highest ranking health system in the world, Medical Alley employers are powering the future of healthcare. Here, this industry alone employs more than 500,000 professionals from 1,000+ companies. The #1 health technology innovation cluster, the #1 hospital in the world, and the world’s Destination Medical Center are all fueled by the transformative work of the MSP region.

Medtronic
Medtronic, the largest medical device manufacturer in the world, employs more than 86,000 employees across 150+ countries and 350+ locations. They bring in $30 billion each year in revenue and are at the forefront of the industry’s medical device innovations. Since Medtronic’s humble beginnings in 1949, the company has become the world’s single largest medical device company and has developed core technologies including implantable mechanical devices, drug and biologic delivery devices, and powered and advanced energy surgical instruments that are used to treat nearly 40 medical conditions.

Smiths Medical
As a leading global provider of medical devices and technologies, Smiths Medical provides solutions for the hospital, emergency, home, and specialist environments. The company’s extensive range of products are carefully crafted to improve and save the lives of patients throughout the world in critical and intensive care, surgery, post-operative care, and home infusion therapies. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Smiths Medical employs 7,700+ people world-wide and operates in more than 30 countries.

UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group is a distinctively diversified health and well-being company headquartered in MSP. UnitedHealth Group’s core capabilities are in clinical expertise, advanced technology, and data and health information that enable the company to meet the evolving needs of a changing health care environment. The organization operates through two distinct platforms: Optum and UnitedHealthcare, together which employ more than 15,000 people in Minnesota alone and 305,000+ worldwide.

Ecolab
Ecolab is the global leader in water, hygiene, and energy technologies and services. Around the world businesses in foodservice, food processing, hospitality, healthcare, industrial, and oil and gas markets choose Ecolab products and services to keep their environment clean and safe, operate efficiently, and achieve sustainability goals. Since 2010, the number of people employed by Ecolab has more than doubled to the current 48,000. Over its history, Ecolab has received thousands of patents to protect its innovations, is headquartered in Saint Paul, and operates in more than 170 countries.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MN
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MN is a taxable, nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire change, transform care and improve health. Chartered in 1933 as Minnesota’s first health plan, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MN has promoted wider, economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota for more than 85 years. Roughly one in three Minnesotans has a health plan with the organization, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MN has received numerous awards recognizing the organization as a top employer and best place to work.

Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is consistently the #1 ranked care system in the U.S. and world and is based out of nearby Rochester, MN with clinics throughout MN, WI, and IA in addition to major campuses in AZ and FL. More than 4,500 physicians and scientists are employed throughout the clinic, with an additional 58,000+ in administrative and allied health staff. It also operates one of the top 10 medical schools and has a robust, world-leading research program. Serving more than a million people from around the world each year, Mayo Clinic is the center of Destination Medical Center, a public-private funded economic initiative to make the region the premiere world destination for care.

Medica
Medica, one of MSP’s largest health insurer giants, represents a group of companies held by a nonprofit, tax exempt holding company called Medica Holding Company. Its family of businesses has received the highest accreditation status, Excellent, from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA®) for its Minnesota Medicaid HMO plans and commercial health plans in Minnesota and North Dakota. Medica also achieved Quality Plus Distinction for Physician and Hospital Quality from the NCQA. The organization employs around 1,200 people and is headquartered from its Minnetonka offices.

Be The Match
For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure exists. Over the past 30 years Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), has managed the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world. To date, Be The Match has facilitated more than 92,000 blood stem cell transplants, and nearly 6,200 transplants a year to give patients hope for a future. As the recognized leader in unrelated marrow transplantation, Be The Match continues to develop services and interactive technologies used by transplant experts around the world to reach more patients, also leading in developing new cellular therapies. Be The Match opened their new North Loop Minneapolis headquarters in 2016 across the street from Target Field and a few short steps off the Green Line serving the metro’s roughly 1,000 local employees of the organizaiton.

Abbott
Founded in 1888, Abbott Laboratories has grown into one of the largest medical device companies in the world, specializing in diabetes care, cardiovascular health, and neuromodulation. The company’s life-changing technologies also include businesses and products in diagnostics, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Abbott has over 107,000 employees worldwide, with more than 4,000 employees in the metro area — thanks in large part to its 2017 acquisition of St. Jude Medical — and is consistently ranked as a top place to work and outstanding corporate citizen by national and international publications alike.

Cantel Medical
As a leading provider of infection prevention products and services in the healthcare market, Cantel is dedicated to delivering high-quality, innovative solutions that improve outcomes and help save lives. Specializing in endoscopy, water filtration dental and healthcare disposables, more than 3,000 global employees work to help improve the lives of patients, caregivers and healthcare providers. The Twin Cities is home to its Medical and Life Sciences Divisions, with offices in Plymouth, MN.

Starkey Hearing Technologies
Starkey is one of the largest hearing aid companies in the world and consistently leads the field in advanced hearing solutions. Headquartered in Eden Prairie, they employ over 5000 people and serve more than 100 markets globally, helping numerous other areas through the Starkey Hearing Foundation. Their Livio AI hearing aid was named a 2019 Best Invention by Time Magazine.

Boston Scientific
More than 30 million patients per year are treated with Boston Scientific products made with dedication by their 36,000 employees worldwide. Though they produce thousands of products, cardiovascular, spinal cord, and remote patient monitoring devices are a particular focus for the company right now. Boston Scientific has consistently received awards and recognition for their innovations that impact patients’ lives, company performance, workplace culture, and contributions to communities around the world. They have several locations around the metro and serve roughly 120 countries worldwide.

Kindeva Drug Delivery
One of the newest leaders in Medical Alley, Kindeva Drug Delivery is already being recognized for their excellence and innovation in drug delivery. Kindeva is contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO), specializing in complex drug products and combination products. Their global headquarters is located in Maplewood, and they have a state-of-the-art research and development facility and cGMP manufacturing plant in the metro as well, giving the company easy access to whatever knowledge it needs and making them an excellent place to work for a wide variety of talented individual.

Rebiotix Inc.
Rebiotix Inc., A Ferring Company, is a clinical stage biotechnology company founded to revolutionize the treatment of debilitating gastrointestinal diseases by harnessing the power of the human microbiome. Based out of Roseville, the company is on the forefront of an exciting potential medical breakthrough with our MRT™ drug platform, which delivers healthy, live, human-derived microbes into a sick patient’s intestinal tract to treat disease.
Coloplast
Coloplast develops products and services to make life easier for people with deeply personal and private medical conditions with a particular focus on chronic care, interventional urology and wound and skin care. Globally, they employ over 12,000 people. Their US headquarters overlooks the Mississippi River in Northeast Minneapolis and the company was recently named a best place to work in in Minnesota by the Star Tribune.

Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC
Founded in Minneapolis in 1919, Upsher-Smith’s diverse array of generic and branded pharmaceuticals help people manage a wide range of conditions, from high blood pressure and high cholesterol, to seizure disorders and migraine headaches. Now part of the Sawai Pharmaceutical Company LTD., Upsher-Smith maintains its track record of one of most respected pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world as well as having access to the resources of a global corporation.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals
One of the world’s oldest drug companies, Takeda Pharmaceuticals is a patient-focused, values-based, R&D-driven global biopharmaceutical company committed to bringing better health and a brighter future to people worldwide. Their facility in Brooklyn Park serves as a biologic center of excellence for the company, as well as producing Entyvio, which treats moderate to severe ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Fairview Health Services
Fairview Health Services is an award-winning, nonprofit, integrated health system providing exceptional health care across the full spectrum of health care services, driven to heal, discover and educate for longer, healthier lives. The company has more than 34,000 employees and a network of over 5,000 providers who embrace innovation and new thinking to drive a healthier future through healing, discovery and education.

3M
More than a century ago, 3M started as a small-scale mining venture in Northern Minnesota, then named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. Now a global powerhouse, their products help improve the daily lives of people around the world. 3M’s Health Care Business Group develops reliable, quality products and solutions for the global health care industry, connecting people, insights, science and technology to make better health possible. 3M employs more than 93,000 people worldwide and has its global headquarters in Maplewood.

Bind Benefits
Bind Benefits is an innovative self-funded health product for employers with over 100 employees that eliminates confusing member coinsurance and deductibles. Before employees receive care, their treatment options, providers and costs are crystal clear. They have received venture backing from top-tier VC firms, received a 2019 MedTech Breakthrough Award, and have an office just steps away from the walking and biking trails around Bde Maka Ska.

Bright Health
One of the most highly regarded startups in the nation is Bright Health, a consumer-focused health insurance and technology company. Backed by powerhouse VC firms like NEA, Bessemer Partners, and Greenspring Associates, Bright works closely with a network of doctors, clinics, and hospitals to ensure their customers are getting the highest quality care at the best possible price. Their headquarters sits in the heart of Minneapolis’ trendy North Loop neighborhood.

ReSound
ReSound is part of the GN Group, the global leader in intelligent audio solutions based in Denmark. ReSound hearing aids set worldwide standards for quality and intuitive technology, helping people Hear More, Do More, Be More. ReSound was the first to offer hearing aids Made for iPhone and allowing direct streaming to Android devices using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It also pioneered the development of the usage 2.4 GHz wireless communication within hearing aids. Bloomington is home to the North American headquarters of GN Hearing and ReSound, employing approximately 650 people in the Twin Cities, more than half in manufacturing.

Bio-Techne
Bio-Techne is a leader in Greater MSP’s fast-growing biotechnology sector, producing integral components of scientific investigations into biological processes and molecular diagnostics, revealing the nature, diagnosis, etiology and progression of specific diseases. They’re committed to meeting the expanding needs of scientific discovery by combining disciplines and expertise to offer a full portfolio of solutions. The company employs over 2,200 people worldwide and has its global headquarters in Northeast Minneapolis.