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Swiss company selects St. Pete for U.S. operations

A Switzerland-based biomedical testing device company has made St. Pete its new home after an extensive nationwide site search.
Pinellas County’s robust manufacturing sector, coupled with Tampa’s direct international flights, lured IMT Analytics Inc. to the region, where the company has opened its first U.S. sales and service center in St. Petersburg, according to an announcement from Pinellas County Economic Development.
“Florida boasts the second-largest medical device manufacturing industry in the U.S. and is ranked in the top five states for largest biotech research and development. Locally, nearly half of all life sciences companies in the Tampa Bay region are located here in Pinellas County,” Brent Barkway, economic development manager with PCED, said in a prepared statement. “We knew we had the ideal location for IMT’s expansion needs.”
The company has executed a lease at 9720 Executive Center Drive N. in the Gateway area.
When IMT first started the site search in the U.S., company executives said the location had to meet certain criteria such as having access to direct flights to Switzerland.
Tampa International Airport, which is roughly 14 miles from IMT’s new center, offers direct flights to Zurich, Switzerland, through airline Edelweiss Air. Other airlines at TPA have connecting flights to the major city.
The site also had to be located in a pro-business and tax climate with a cluster of industry-related companies.
“Support for our U.S. distributors and end users will be better than ever,” IMT Managing Director Daniel Benz said in a prepared statement. “We are very excited about our U.S. expansion. We feel very welcomed as a new business here in St. Petersburg and look forward to working within the area’s thriving life sciences industry.”
The county’s economic development department worked with St. Petersburg Economic Development Corporation to help Benz network with business organizations.
“We introduced IMT to the City of St. Petersburg so Daniel could learn about programs like grants for job creation and talent attraction,” St. Pete EDC VP of Marketing and Communications Anne Core said in a prepared statement. “Working with our partners at PCED, we helped Daniel and IMT explore the benefits of starting a new business venture in Florida.”
The EDC said IMT currently has six employees at the St. Pete office with plans to hire more.
IMT isn’t the only Swiss-based company to recently set up local operations.
Inpeco, a company specializing in clinical lab automation, opened its regional headquarters in Tampa late last year. The company is leasing space at CAMLS in downtown Tampa to house its financial, quality, people and talent, and business operations teams of 15 employees.
Maricel Roberts, president and managing director at Inpeco, said Tampa “is packed with leading healthcare institutions conducting groundbreaking research, developing new technologies, and training the healthcare leaders of tomorrow.”
The significant biomedical and healthcare device manufacturers in the county include Catalent Pharma Solutions and Jabil Inc.’s healthcare division.
St. Pete’s Innovation District is home to hospital systems such as Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and Bayfront Health.
Additionally, the surrounding educational institutions are adding more manufacturing-based certifications based on employers’ needs. St. Petersburg College, which has campuses across Pinellas County and was the first state college in Florida to offer bachelor’s degrees, is building a workforce innovation hub for students to access the different industry career pathways.

Pauls
November 4, 2023at10:56 pm
Will this company not perform inhuman animal experiments?