NEWS
CINDE and AAMI Bring Medical Device Industry Training to Costa Rica
Costa Rica is increasingly valuable to health technology manufacturers working on a global scale, with medical devices touted as the country’s top goods export since 2017. Recognizing this, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) joined forces with the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) to bring AAMI education to the country’s professional training and device manufacturing campuses.
“As an international organization, AAMI is constantly looking to where quality manufacturing is happening in the world,” said Brad Schoener, vice president of innovation at AAMI. “We’ve recognized that many of our members have a footprint in Costa Rica, and naturally, we’d like to deliver the support they have requested.”
AAMI currently offers more than 18 courses in quality and regulatory assurance, human factors, software and cybersecurity, and sterilization. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) participates in the development of course content and the Association’s 48 instructors lead these courses either in person or through live, virtual training*.
“AAMI’s reputation for quality and thought leadership allows us to recruit the best instructors, and we have a thorough training process for developing new faculty,” explained Schoener.
“Twelve of the 30 top MedTech companies operate in Costa Rica in 14 different subsectors. Eight of these are some of the top 20 exporters, representing US$3.7 million in 2019’s medical devices exports,” added Vanessa Gibson, head of climate investment at CINDE. “AAMI’s courses will strengthen the knowledge of these companies to continue carrying out high value-added processes to Costa Rica and the world.”
Costa Rica is also the second-largest medical devices exporter in Latin America. Now, through CINDE, AAMI will be providing the education and professional training in standards utilization and product development necessary for manufacturing companies to bring new technologies and devices to market. The first course will start next September.
*Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all AAMI instruction will remain virtual-only through 2020.
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AAMI (
www.aami.org) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967. It is a diverse community of more than 9,000 healthcare technology professionals united by one important mission—supporting the healthcare community in the development, management, and use of safe and effective health technology. AAMI is the primary source of consensus standards, both national and international, for the medical device industry, as well as practical information, support, and guidance for health technology and sterilization professionals.
CINDE (cinde.org) is a private, nonprofit organization committed to Costa Rica's sustainable development and social progress for over 38 years, through the attraction of foreign direct investment in manufacturing industries and high value-added services that generate quality employment, knowledge transfer, and productive linkages.
CINDE also collaborates to strengthen the Costa Rican business climate in a way that fosters the growth of valuable activities throughout the country.
