Over the last three decades, Ireland has built a robust medical device community serving large multi-national device companies, built on favorable tax policies and a strong manufacturing and engineering base. But now Ireland is trying to incubate a robust start-up community as well, focused on R&D and innovation, hoping to create the next Medtroniic or Covidien rather than simply serving the current ones.

The deal gives Medtronic the exclusive right to acquire Half Moon Medical, a start-up developing a mitral valve repair system to compete with Abbott’s MitraClip.

The SMART trial will compare Medtronic’s Evolut TAVR systems to Edward’s Sapien 3 devices. Evolut EXPAND TAVR I will evaluate Evolut in patients with symptomatic moderate aortic stenosis or asymptomatic severe disease.