Smith & Nephew is moving its Pittsburgh location to a new site, opening a research and development as well as education training facility for robotics in 2020, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Four things to know:
1. The move will triple Smith & Nephew's floor space for its robotics business, which has around 100 employees. Pittsburgh is currently the company's headquarters for the robotics business.
2. The new facility will provide space for current and prospective Smith & Nephew employees to generate surgical robotic platforms. The company's current platform, the Navio Surgical System, focuses on robotic technology for knee procedures.
3. Smith & Nephew expects the new space to promote second-generation Navio product development. The company launched the Navio 7.0 handheld robotic system for knee replacements earlier this year; it doesn't have FDA clearance, but Smith & Nephew plans to make it available in the second half of the year.
4. In March, Smith & Nephew acquired Brainlab's orthopedic joint reconstructive business and plans to launch its next generation surgical robotics platform in 2020. The platform is designed to reduce its physical footprint and incorporate that into the company's sports medicine tower.