They said it at DeviceTalks Boston 2023

Medical device industry leaders from Boston Scientific, Becton Dickinson, ZimVie, Medtronic, Stryker and more met at DeviceTalks Boston to share lessons learned and their perspectives on industry trends, device design and medtech innovation.

Bidding farewell to DeviceTalks Boston 2023, we look back at an exceptional two-day medical device conference teeming with insights from over 100 top industry leaders.

These experts unfolded many complexities of the medtech industry in more than 35 sessions, walking attendees from the medical device product development continuum through the latest medical innovations and strategies to tackle regulatory challenges, prototyping, manufacturing, product launches and more.

Between the high-profile keynote interviews with Boston Scientific Chair and CEO Mike Mahoney, Johnson & Johnson MedTech Global Head of Robotics R&D Martin Buehler, and Becton Dickinson President, CEO and Chair Tom Polen, plus the much-anticipated panel discussions between some of the industry’s top leaders, attendees left the live event armed with actionable insights, a broadened perspective and a panoramic view of the industry’s future.

Enjoy some of the most memorable insights from our live event captured by our on-the-ground editors on the following pages.

And be part of the conversation at our next live event, DeviceTalks West, in Santa Clara, California, on Oct. 18-19.

CAREERS AT DEVICETALKS BOSTON

Boston Scientific Chair and CEO Mike Mahoney told a packed crowd that his company has succeeded because it focuses on its people culture first, then on innovation. “You have to be restless to have culture, talent and innovation.”

BD Chair, CEO and President Tom Polen shared some insights into his journey to the top of Becton Dickinson (BD). “I never thought of being CEO until near the end of the process.” He advises people looking to advance their careers: “Just focus on getting things done.”

The Mullings Group VP & Senior Partner Holly Scott said there’s hope despite recent layoffs in the medtech industry: “Hiring follows money. … The No. 1 accelerator for success is people.”

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT DEVICETALKS BOSTON

ZimVie SVP and Global Spine President Rebecca Whitney spoke passionately about their work on the Tether system for treating adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. “When you talk about kids typically aged 10 to 15, we are hopefully improving their lives for years and years to come. We take it very seriously and it is something we all are very passionate about.”

BD developed one of the first rapid COVID tests in the world. BD Chair, CEO and President Tom Polen shared that the company quickly identified three things it wanted to achieve for COVID when the pandemic was brewing: Help people get diagnosed, help people get well, and help people get vaccinated.

Polen also discussed how the pandemic drove BD’s diagnostic division to new heights. “We had to scale up diagnostics from making 9 million diagnostic tests a year to 12 million a month.”

Read more insights from DeviceTalks Boston 2023 on Artificial Intelligence, Innovation, M&A, Funding, Surgical Robotics, and Sustainability at our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.