Tech-Health-Explore: Breaking Down the Companies Tracking Our Bodies: Medtronic Part 1

Exploring the World’s Largest Medical Device Maker

As a rule, we follow the technological advancements of corporate giants in tech health to help inform those of us individuals choosing to define for ourselves who we are and what we want to be in a world of powerful corporate and governmental elites. That means knowing the world and those tracking us, good and bad. Incredible advancements are made every day by health companies seeking to do good in the world, no doubt. However, we need to follow and examine them to enhance our own capabilities and positioning. We are not victims, we are active agents in our lives.

Top Level Review: Who is Medtronic?

So we’ve already started with some teasers and a mini-introduction. However, we thought a deeper introduction was necessary for such a deeply rooted company in the global healthcare market. So that’s where we begin this week with “Who is Medtronic?”

The mission statement for the company builds 6 founding principles, or tenants, around their foremost priority: “to contribute to human welfare.” As Medtronic itself emboldens, the six tenants the company follows to accomplish this priority can be summarized as follows: (1) “alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life,” (2) “direct our growth in the areas of biomedical engineering,” (3) “strive without reserve for the greatest possible reliability and quality,” (4) “make a fair profit,” (5) “recognize the personal worth of all employees,” & (6) “maintain good citizenship.”

Despite these admirable attributes, Medtronic could easily be targeted as the megalithic corporate giant set on world health domination that we see in so many cyberpunk tropes. Just have a look at the PSYCHASEC intro to the Altered Carbon Trailer below.

Thanks to moviemaniacsDE

And then compare the opening graphic to materials from the companies website offered to describe their products.

Yet, this company does appear to have deeper, more elementally humane roots, a seemingly sincere mission/focus, and a track record of device construction, that yes, is rooted in improving the human experience. They are, however, also not without their detractors which we will explore in this series.

From the founder of Medtronic, Earl Bakken, on, Medtronic since 1949 has been a leader in medical device manufacturing. In fact, Bakken was himself a tinkerer in tech, an engineer at heart, like so many of us, that led him into the world of corporate health.

Thanks to WCCO – CBS Minnesota

Today Medtronic has grown from simple cardiac devices to include the “develop(ment), manufactures, distributes, and sells device-based medical therapies to hospitals, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide.” The company does this through the integration of four distinct, recognized segments: “Cardiac and Vascular Group, Minimally Invasive Therapies Group, Restorative Therapies Group, and Diabetes Group.”

Over the coming weeks, we are going to begin 2021 with a deeper dive into exploring the distinct segments of corporate health giant Medtronic, moving then to the corporate culture of the company, followed up by an examination of the company’s finances (full disclosure BCB is invested in Medtronic; an aspect we’ll be fully covering later this month), and finally, we’ll take a deep dive into the news that’s generated around this company over the last several years.

We look forward to our journey together into the world’s largest Medical Device Maker: Medtronic. See you next time.