Blog – Recent Updates

At Destination Medical Center (DMC), we are thrilled and inspired by the news that Mayo Clinic has announced a $5 billion dollar commitment to expanding its Rochester campus as part of the Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester initiative. This is a historic moment for Mayo Clinic, the city of Rochester, Olmsted County, the state of Minnesota, and DMC. Mayo Clinic’s newest commitment to the city demonstrates the success and impact of the 20-year economic development initiative first authorized by a bipartisan group of Minnesota legislators and the Governor in 2013.

Not only is this the largest investment in Mayo’s 160-year history, but it is also the largest public or private investment in Minnesota’s history!

DMC was created to position Rochester as a global destination for health and wellness, and to support Mayo Clinic’s vision of transforming health care for the benefit of patients and society. Through DMC, we are leveraging public and private investments to create a vibrant, welcoming, and livable city that attracts talent, innovation, and visitors from around the world and solidifies Rochester as America’s City for Health.  Mayor Norton, in her remarks at the announcement, credited the DMC initiative as helping to “set the stage for this transformational project, in Rochester.”

Through 2022, approximately $200 million of public investment through DMC has helped attract nearly $1.5 billion of private investment from Mayo Clinic and other investors. Estimated job growth related to these initiatives total nearly 8,000 thus far. New public spaces supported with DMC funding include Discovery Walk, Heart of the City, and forthcoming Soldiers Field and riverfront redevelopment projects.

DMC successes through its first decade have helped create the conditions and opportunities that support Mayo Clinic’s new multi-billion-dollar commitment. Mayo Clinic’s Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester initiative will expand its clinical, research, and education facilities in Rochester, enhancing the patient experience in addition to its ability to deliver world-class care and innovation to patients while advancing its mission of inspiring hope and contributing to health and well-being.  According to Mayo CEO, Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., the Unbound project will blur “…the lines across hospital, clinic, and digital care to help our teams anticipate our patients’ needs, accelerate more cures and greater connection to our patients.”

Mayo Clinic’s new commitment will also bring significant benefits to Rochester and the region, including:

• Creating thousands of new jobs and generating new tax revenue for the state and local governments.
• Attracting more visitors and businesses to Rochester, boosting the local economy and tourism industry.
• Enhancing the quality of life and well-being of Rochester residents and Mayo Clinic patients and visitors, by providing more amenities, services, and opportunities for recreation, culture, and entertainment.
• Strengthening Rochester’s reputation as America’s City for Health, and a model for sustainable and inclusive urban development.

As we celebrate this milestone, I want to thank Mayo Clinic for its leadership and partnership, and for its unwavering commitment to Rochester and Minnesota.  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was explicit in acknowledging Mayo’s decision to invest in Rochester…” it’s not lost on myself, our administration or the people of Minnesota — you choose to make that investment in Rochester, Minnesota. You made a conscious effort as you looked elsewhere, where you could go, you said ‘No, this is the best place.”

I also want to thank the DMC Corporation Board, the City of Rochester, Olmsted County, and the State of Minnesota, and all our stakeholders and community members for their support and collaboration.

Together, we are enabling DMC to deliver on the vision and aspiration behind its inception and together, we will continue to make it a success.

I invite you to learn more about DMC and Mayo Clinic’s Bold Forward Unbound initiative by visiting our website and following us on social media. I also encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas on how we can make Rochester an even better place to live, work, and visit.

Thank you for being part of this journey, and for your passion and enthusiasm for DMC and Mayo Clinic. I look forward to working with you as we embark on this new chapter of growth and transformation.

Patrick Seeb
Executive Director
Destination Medical Center

The news that Mayo Clinic’s board of directors has approved the $5 billion Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester initiative to further expand its Rochester campus is a historic moment for our

city, our state, and our region, as we witness the world’s premier destination for health and wellness grow and thrive. “This is a transformative investment in the future of health care,” said executive director Patrick Seeb. “It solidifies Rochester as America’s City for Health, a destination for health and innovation.”

Mayo Clinic’s continued commitment to Rochester is also a reflection of the vision and collaboration that Destination Medical Center has nurtured and advanced since its inception in 2013. DMC, born of a bipartisan effort in the Minnesota legislature to strengthen Rochester as America’s City for Health with Mayo Clinic at its heart, has been instrumental in creating an environment that helped Mayo Clinic confidently commit to substantial expansion of its core campus. This unprecedented investment by Mayo Clinic coupled with additional significant public and private investment in downtown Rochester, is accelerating the Destination Medical Center initiative originally envisioned.

Over the past 10 years, we have seen this in many ways, including:

• DMC’s ongoing stewardship of $585 million of public infrastructure funds, the largest in Minnesota history, to support improvements, public amenities, and placemaking projects in Rochester. The scope of improvements encompassed transportation, utilities, parking, parks, trails, public art, and more. These enhancements not only benefit Mayo Clinic, but the entire community and region.
• DMC has facilitated the development of Discovery Square, a 16-block innovation district that connects Mayo with entrepreneurs, researchers, and educators. It is also home to One and Two Discovery Square which have a combined 290,000 square feet of cutting-edge life science amenities with such tenants as Phillips, Rion, and Mayo Clinic Advanced Diagnostics Laboratory.
• DMC has supported the creation of signature public realm projects to enhance the experience and well-being of patients, visitors, and residents. The Heart of the City is a vibrant and welcoming public space that serves as the gateway to downtown Rochester and Mayo Clinic. Improvements to Soldiers Field Memorial Park will provide a relaxing experience for everyone, just a short walk from downtown. Connecting all of this is Discovery Walk, a 4-block linear parkway through Discovery Square that extends the collaborative environment within One and Two Discovery Square to the outdoor space.

DMC will continue to work with Mayo Clinic, the City of Rochester, and Olmsted County to make Rochester an increasingly attractive place to live, work and visit. Among other initiatives, we will be working together on the Link Bus Rapid Transit system and redevelopment of key riverfront areas along with a new Sixth Street bridge.

As these projects unfold, we will continue to approach them through lenses of equity and sustainability. Community co-design will be used in conjunction with Discovery Walk and other DMC initiatives to engage, hear from, and collaborate with our community. Work will continue with our partners in the City of Rochester to achieve sustainability and energy goals. We will leverage what we have learned in DMC’s first decade with respect to engaging businesses and other stakeholders impacted by construction to lessen inconvenience through Business Forward.

Mayo Clinic’s Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester initiative is exciting news for Rochester. At DMC, we are proud to have played a part in enabling Mayo Clinic

to make a substantial new commitment to our community. We look forward to working with Mayo Clinic, the City of Rochester, and Olmsted County to fulfill our shared vision of making Rochester a world-class city that is a destination for health and wellness, and a place where everyone can live, work, and thrive.

At the quarterly Destination Medical Center Corporation (DMCC) Board of Directors meeting, a request was made by DMC EDA staff for direction regarding the development of a shared lab environment at Two Discovery Square. This would be a shared laboratory space for life sciences startups for technology, workforce, and economic development with accessible lease rates and terms. The environment has the potential to attract businesses by reducing their risk and barriers to entry in the life sciences field.

“This is one of the more important initiatives we are involved in,” said board member Rybak. “Given the research we have seen, the shared lab concept will be a game changer for the Discovery Square ecosystem. While this is next to Mayo, it’s really about birthing other medical-related enterprises so we create more drivers of employment opportunities in the community.”

The shared lab environment has come to even more importance with the designation of Minnesota as a “med tech” hub by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The initiative, called MedTech 3.0, has the goal of making Minnesota a global center for “smart med-tech.”

If all goes according to plan, the shared lab space could begin operation in late 2024.

The DMCC Board also received a report from Dr. Lori Carrell, chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Rochester. The focus of the update was on the UMR Campus and Climate Action planning process and the future direction of the university. The Campus and Climate Action plan is being created to support UMR’s commitment to excellence sustained through managed enrollment growth by identifying time horizons and criteria for strategic decision points in a phased approach to facilities expansion.

When asked what DMC can do to support the success of University of Minnesota-Rochester, Chancellor Carrell responded, “The reality is you have already been helpful, and we want to be more intentional as we move forward. One way is in the recruitment of new businesses to Rochester. The sooner we can be involved in that process, the sooner we can meet their workforce needs.”

The board also received a report on the requirements for the 2025 DMC Development Plan. According to the DMC legislation, the DMC Development Plan needs to be updated every 5 years. The last time the plan was updated was in 2020. The 2025 plan will represent the halfway point of the DMC initiative.

“This is a perfect moment to review what has been achieved in the last 5 years, as well as an opportunity to take an in-depth look at the near future of the DMC initiative and what that means for our community,” said DMCC Board Chair Wheelock. “Let’s sharpen our thoughts and think strategically about how to keep the broader community informed about our progress.”

Much of the Development Plan update work will occur in mid- to late-2024 with the Plan moving for approval by the DMCC board and Rochester City Council in May of 2025.

The next DMCC Board meeting is set for February 1, 2023 at 9:30. a.m.

The Main Street Economic Revitalization Grant Program’s completion was marked by a visit from Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Matt Varilek on a pleasant day in October. Over two rounds of funding, Destination Medical Center (DMC) allocated nearly $4 million to support over 70 businesses and organizations in Rochester.

Patrick Seeb, DMC EDA Executive Director, emphasized the importance of downtowns as they embody the essence and identity of a community, whether it’s in Rochester, St. Cloud, Minneapolis-St. Paul, or Mankato. Recognizing this, the State of Minnesota wisely chose to support downtown areas in their recovery.

Destination Medical Center received funding from MN DEED to distribute to current and future organizations in three key business districts in Rochester for capital improvement projects. These business districts include the DMC district, the southeast Crossroads to Bear Creek area, and the Northgate area.

The grant awards ranged from $5,000 to $500,000, with an average award of around $59,000. Thanks to this initiative, over 300 permanent jobs have been created, and 22 vacant storefronts are now occupied.

While these grants were available to all, special efforts were made to reach out to BIPOC-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses in these areas. These efforts resulted in 20 BIPOC-owned businesses receiving grant funding, and 18 woman- and veteran-owned businesses also being awarded funding.

This program has played a vital role in supporting and revitalizing downtown areas, fostering economic growth, and creating opportunities for a diverse range of businesses and organizations.

Surrounded by tents featuring the work of DMC and our partner organizations, the 2023 DMC Annual Meeting inspired attendees by sharing their key initiatives from the past year and what we can look forward to from them in the future.

Speaking to the group of stakeholders and community members were Rochester Mayor Kim Norton, DMC EDA President Dr. Clark Otley, DMC’s Equitable Economic Development Coordinator Wafa Elkhalifa, artist Ayub HajiOmar, and DMC EDA Executive Director Patrick Seeb.

The afternoon was centered around the theme of Connections. Mayor Norton began the program speaking about the physical connection around the DMC initiative. This includes the often overlooked below-ground infrastructure that is the backbone of any city, connecting vital services to homes and businesses downtown. Street and sidewalk improvements create a more accessible community, helping us move around, connecting us to the shopping, dining, housing, entertainment, and cultural anchors of our community.

Investments in public spaces were also brought to light. Mayor Norton added, “Soldiers Field Memorial Park is an amazing community asset that is getting a much-needed update. A plan informed by our community, it will continue to be a place where we make connections to each other and to our past and memories, all while leaving a wonderful asset for future generations.”

She also pointed to the Zumbro River as a natural connection, flowing through downtown and adjacent neighborhoods. With the Riverfront Small Area Plan nearing completion, and its vision for new public amenities, water access, housing, trails, and business opportunities realized, the community will find a new relationship to the Zumbro River.

“Another community asset- the soon-to-be Link Bus Rapid Transit – is a public transportation system that will provide easy access for residents, businesses, and downtown visitors to entertainment, jobs, and services along the 3-mile-long corridor – creating an even more accessible downtown,” stated Norton.

When DMC EDA President Dr. Clark Otley spoke, he expounded upon the multiple ways DMC invests in downtown Rochester. He provided two examples of “distinct but harmonious strategies. The first was DMC’s proactive approach to attracting new life science companies. One and Two Discovery Square were the early seeds that have already come to fruition. Proximate to Mayo Clinic researchers, educators, clinicals, and patients, these buildings are a welcome home to companies interested in tapping into the energy, creativity, and innovation of the top healthcare provider in the country.

“One of the things that Destination Medical Center and Discovery Square has allowed us to do… is be thoughtful, proactive, and purposeful,” said Dr. Otley. “We plan out the future rather than let it happen to us.”

In 2023, DMC will have been in more than 25 markets, hosted 80 influencers, generated more than 100 leads, and had its message in front of tens of thousands of key targets. Next year, the plan is to do more… much more.

Dr. Otley also highlighted the partnership with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development – the Main Street Economic Revitalization Grant program. The program awarded nearly $4 million to businesses and organizations in three corridors around Rochester; organizations that were most affected by the pandemic.

Through the life of the program:

• 71 businesses received funds
• 43 were retail and dining establishments
• 28% were BIPOC-led enterprises
• The average grant amount awarded was $60,000

It is important to note that the grant recipients had to match at least 70% of the total cost of their projects.

Following Dr. Otley’s comments, Wafa Elkhalifa, DMC’s Equitable Economic Development Coordinator took the stage to speak about the importance of social connections in the Rochester community.

“By prioritizing social connection, we were able to design a public space with heated sidewalks to remove barriers for community members with mobility challenges. With Intentional social connection, we were able to encourage construction companies to participate in the “Inclusive Workforce Employer Designation”. Through Utilizing social connection, we were able to uncover the real barriers that our BIPOC communities face in their pathways to home ownership.”

She spoke of the difficulty of infusing diversity, equity, and inclusion into community engagement; that desegregating a community to create a true sense of belonging that understands and respects everyone can be challenging for any organization.

Wafa pointed to the Community Co-design concept as a successful engagement tool that has been utilized to prioritize the diverse inclusion of community members in designing public spaces, policies, and procedures in projects like the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayor’s Challenge, the Main Street Grant Program, or the BIPOC Home Ownership Co-design.

“To answer the question, what does an ideal community look like? It is a community where social connection is intentional, prioritized, utilized, and celebrated. There are more of you when you are connected to others, so through unleashing your fullest potential we can lead and transform an “I” Community to a “We” community.”

Ayub HajiOmar addressed the crowd next. HajiOmar was one of two artists chosen to have their work placed in Discovery Walk, a 4-block long, linear parkway along 2^nd Ave SW that will serve pedestrians as well as maintain vehicle access. His poetry will be featured on the face of benches spread throughout the parkway. An example of one of the benches was on display prior to the program beginning for attendees to experience.

Quoting Henri Matisse, “creativity takes courage”, HajiOmar related his family’s roots in Somalia, also known as the Nation of Poets. “Our culture revolves around poetry. We have ordinary conversations in poetry. In the old days, you couldn’t be a lawyer in Somalia unless you were a poet. The courtroom became a theater of sorts. Lawyers used linguistics and harmonious expressions to prove their client’s innocence.”

Despite years of war, famine, and instability, Somalia is experiencing a resurgence of resilience, inspiration, and success. “This spirit of resilience, inspiration, and success has shaped my work on this project as it is also heavily present right here in Rochester, at the Mayo Clinic & through the Destination Medical Center. I believe this is what makes for such a robust economy.”

DMC EDA Executive Director Patrick Seeb wrapped up the evening’s remarks with a subtle poke at our weather here in southeastern Minnesota. “When I travel the country or internationally promoting Rochester, we oftentimes make light of our weather here,” joked Seeb. “But I want to conclude by saying if you don’t choose to come to Rochester for the weather, come for the climate; a climate of innovation, a climate of collaboration, a climate of cooperation.”

Looking to learn more from our partners and strategic initiatives? Click the link(s) below the name of the initiative you are interested in to access resources associated with each.

 

 

Riverfront Small Area Plan Project Page

 

 

UMR Career Pathways

 

 

City of Rochester Sustainability Page

 

 

Soldiers Field Memorial Park Improvements Project Page

 

 

Mayo Clinic Community Engagement

 

 

Link Bus Rapid Transit Project Page

 

 

Coalition for Rochester Area Housing

Coalition for Rochester Area Housing
BIPOC Homeownership Community Co-Design Report
First Homes Community Land Trust
Three Rivers Community Action

Equity in the Built Environment

Check out Equity in the Built Environment
Built Environment Project Summary

DMC Equitable Economic Development

Community Co-design Guide
Community Co-design Training and Resources
Main Street Grant
Equity Alliance-Equity Series on YouTube

City of Rochester

Racial Equity Dividends Index
Disability Equality Index

 

 

One and Two Discovery Square
Discovery Square Sub-District
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
Rochester Area Economic Development, Inc. 
Medical Alley
Join Us MN

When a successful disruptor like Seer Medical, Australia’s largest provider of epilepsy diagnostic services, launches an expansion into the United States, is there a better place to make home base than Rochester?

“Rochester has been innovative and supportive of disruptive med tech companies for quite some time. As a Minnesotan, you grow up hearing about Mayo – so it’s great to be near such a good community. It’s valuable to base the entire US ops in this ecosystem, surrounded by some of the best medical facilities and medical professionals and make sure that we’re learning from the best,” says Lizzie Stelten, senior project manager for Seer Medical.

Since Seer Medical’s 2017 founding in Melbourne, over 15,000 patients have connected to its technology – a take-home video EEG ECG monitoring device that assists with epilepsy diagnosis and seizure characterization. The widespread adoption of Seer’s tech by Australia’s healthcare system has freed up beds, cut patient wait times, improved seizure error diagnosis rates, collected over 200 years of inpatient monitoring data, and saved the country over $191 million.

On an individual level, it improves both patient experiences and outcomes by teleporting the monitoring environment from hospital bed to home sweet home.

Patients are connected to a lightweight wearable which sits around their shoulders and is connected to electrodes that monitor brain waves. This device sends signals to another portable device – a protective case that houses a wide angle, night-vision equipped camera that monitors patients constantly and provides a further source of information on which to differentiate seizure and non-epileptic events. If seizure activity is observed, these context factors can also be analyzed.

The system is also more comfortable than what came before it; Seer Medical’s adhesives which attach the electrodes to the scalp are water soluble, which avoids potential irritation by chemical removal methods.

“The cumulative impact of dreading the rash, the irritation, or the extra trip to the hospital can really escalate. So, from a purely consumer standpoint, it’s a much better experience.” says Levi Sauerbrei, product support engineer. He speaks from experience, “I have been connected to the Seer equipment. It’s almost like a rite of passage for new employees.”

“I was actually just connected last week, it was a wonderful patient experience,” says Stelten.

 

From Down Under to DMC

General manager and Vice President Chad Wilke leads Seer Medical’s current US team of six, which, as operations scale, will provide leadership across US operations as new regions open up. The company has over 200 employees globally, many based in Seer Medical’s global headquarters in Melbourne, Australia.

Seer Medical’s relationship with Rochester goes back to 2018, when a research relationship was started with Mayo Clinic. In early spring 2022, Seer joined the first cohort of Mayo Clinic’s Platform_Accelerate, which Sauerbrei points to as a “tangible instance” of Rochester’s med-tech ecosystem. Seer Medical won the final prize at the end of its Platform_Accelerate experience for its work using data to refine and test its epilepsy diagnosis and management capabilities, while also looking for digital biomarkers that might predict seizures.

“The number of organizations in Minnesota in general, but particularly in this part of the state, that are available to help businesses succeed is really remarkable. Something I haven’t encountered in other parts of the country.” says Levi Sauerbrei, who, as a small business owner himself, is a member of Collider Coworking Space and has connected with the Small Business Development Center.

 

“The sky’s the limit.”

In September 2022, the FDA cleared Seer’s technology for use in the United States. In December 2022, Seer Medical was awarded the Governor’s International Trade Award for Foreign Direct Investment by Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota Trade Office.

“The growth path is very aggressive. We expect to grow to a few dozen US-based employees, certainly within the next calendar year or so.” says Sauerbrei. “The sky’s the limit on the expansion side. It’s just a question of maintaining the quality level that we expect and then expanding our capacity.”

“We’ve proven that we can change lives and disrupt the healthcare system. And we’re super excited to bring it here to American neurologists and patients,” say Stelten. “Our goal is to assist American neurologists with reaching more patients than ever.”

The quicker the company scales, the faster it can help break down barriers to healthcare. Stelton says Seer Medical has made a point to bring critical care to rural patients.

“In Australia, 30% of our patients are actually monitored, accessing this testing from more rural areas,” she says. “Assuming that people can travel to a clinic to get connected, which we do acknowledge is a privilege in and of itself, we can send them home and they can continue their lives and get monitored by world class doctors from afar, using the assistance of our technology. That’s one of the biggest reasons we are hoping to scale rapidly – so that we’re not just focused on the Rochester community and folks that might travel to Mayo. We want to bring it to everybody in this country quickly,” says Stelten.

Though momentum is picking up, the Rochester team has not lost its scrappy sense of startup energy.

“All of us are wearing multiple hats – also taking out the trash and making the coffee runs and things like that.” says Sauerbrei, whose mind these days is laser-focused on logistics, since, unlike Australia, the US does not have a network of Seer Medical clinics for convenient equipment returns.

“People come to Rochester from all over the world. And then they go home, and they’ll go home with our equipment, and then we’ll need to retrieve it when their study time is over,” he says.

Luckily, the longtime IT specialist’s newest favorite hat says ‘multi-channel logistics operation builder’.

For more information about Seer Medical, head over to their research and publications page, where their peer-reviewed publications are available for community review.

Join Destination Medical Center and partners for an evening reflecting on the past year and what is to come.

Join us in celebrating Rochester’s continued growth and vitality at the DMC Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 21 from 4 – 6 p.m. at Soldiers Field Memorial Park, just east of Zumbro Lutheran Church. This location is at the nexus of several DMC-funded projects connecting the Heart of the City, Discovery Walk, and improvements at Soldiers Memorial Field.

4:00 – 5:00 p.m. – Open House Highlighting Strategic Initiatives
Our partners will host learning stations where attendees can hear more about how their work adds to the vibrancy of our community. During this time, attendees can also grab a delicious bite from Twig’s, Pasquale’s, Cafe Steam, and People’s Food Co-op.

5:00 – 5:30 p.m. – Program
A recap of the past year and a glimpse into what is to come for downtown Rochester will be provided by the DMC EDA executive director Patrick Seeb, City of Rochester Mayor Kim Norton, and DMC EDA Board President Dr. Clark Otley.

5:30 – 6:00 p.m. – Networking
End the evening by connecting with community members.

The DMC Annual Meeting is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is preferred.