Medtronic on June 29 broke ground on a 400,000-square-foot innovation campus in Lafayette, Colo.
The devicemaker said it aims to move about 1,100 research and development and administrative employees from its Boulder and Louisville, Colo., facilities into the new location by the end of 2022. Manufacturing staff and facilities will remain in Boulder and Louisville.
Medtronic has 90,000 employees in 50 locations globally, but four of the company’s business units are housed in Colorado: cranial and spinal technologies, surgical innovations, respiratory intervention and patient monitoring.
Colorado agreed to give Medtronic $24.8 million worth of tax credits for the project, with the company agreeing to create 1,000 new jobs in the region, according to the Denver Business Journal. Medtronic also said it would pay an average salary of $136,721 — more than double the average salary in Boulder County — as part of its strategy to compete with other tech companies in the area.
"We look forward to coming together at a single campus to bolster our presence in Colorado and position Medtronic for growth," CEO Geoff Martha said in a news release. "In addition, we are investing in this innovation center and new campus to attract and retain technology talent in this tech-rich region of Colorado."