The Upper Valley Business Alliance has established the Upper Valley MedTech Collaborative, or UVMTC, aimed at broadening awareness of the companies located in the Upper Valley that are researching, developing and manufacturing medical devices.

The alliance — formerly the Hanover and Lebanon Chambers of Commerce — said UVMTC will bring medical technology entrepreneurs, companies and investors in the region to address the complex challenges they face when trying to bring a device to market and to grow their medtech businesses. The collaborative, according to the alliance, “strives to provide a conduit where entrepreneurs can help each other solve problems and achieve success.”

“Through the UVMTC, we now have a mechanism to bring medtech stakeholders together, in order to promote collaboration, encourage investment, grow businesses, support our current employees and attract potential employees,” said Greg Lange, chief business development officer at Simbex Medical Device & Development, a research and product development company located in Lebanon.

A March 4 collaborative kickoff event at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vt., attracted over 40 companies and numerous entrepreneurs, inventors, developers, investors and advisors.

Dr. Barry Schweitzer, senior business development and licensing manager of Dartmouth’s Technology Transfer Office, said, “In tech communities, one often hears about needing a ‘critical mass’ of cutting-edge, high-quality companies to have a thriving ecosystem in a particular location. The Upper Valley MedTech Collaborative demonstrates quite convincingly that we have this critical mass of medical technology companies in the Upper Valley, and that investors, entrepreneurs and industry partners should take notice.”