My only experience with Texas Instruments was using its calculator during seventh grade algebra class. I don’t remember being too impressed, especially when I discovered the calculator would not automatically spit out the answers during pop quizzes.

Fortunately, the world is much bigger than junior high math. For Dallas-based TI, which generated nearly $14 billion in sales last year, is a major player in medical technology. The company makes semiconductor chips used in everything from ultrasound machines to pacemakers.

And that’s only the beginning, insists CEO Richard Templeton, who was in St. Paul today chatting with customers. (St. Jude Medical and Medtronic are some local companies that work with TI.) The chip maker is collaborating on some pretty “cool but I wonder if it will ever work” technology like an implantable device that restores partial eyesight, a gastric pacemaker that uses electric shocks to curb appetites, and sensors that measure and regulate blood pressure.

Templeton is passionate about this stuff; “Fascinating” frequently comes out of his mouth. The company recently announced a $15 million initiative to fund medical technology research at universities around the world. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.

On the future of medical technology:

“Take a look at the computer industry in the 1950s when IBM analyzed the world and concluded the world would need 5 computers. Here we are 50 years later and there are probably five computers per person. Semiconductor technology simply revolutionized computing and it revolutionized communications. And I believe that the next big one in front of us is the ability for semi-conducting technology to revolutionize health care. That ranges from everything from the world of imaging, providing doctors the ability to see and operate in a clear path, the ability to augment devices around the body for patient comfort and convenience when they are getting health care.”

“I think one of the most fascinating areas is getting the health care out to the patient. We have these concepts where health care is delivered to people in these big hospitals. Well, there are lot of people who don’t live near big hospitals. And lastly, you will be embedding more semi-conducting technology into the body, to help treat diseases, repair damage from accidents. Take a look at the great work that is happening with [electricity] to treat depression, eating disorder, smoking.”

On how medical devices are getting smaller:

“A cell phone was never thought to have the market place it became until we miniturized it, took the power down, you now have the talk time and battery life. Take those parallels and start applying them to this world. This whole idea of taking this whole piece of equipment like an ultrasound machine and it’s no longer in a hospital or a big clinic. But it’s now actually out at the point of use. We got people who believe that this could end up in the ambulance, with the EMS technicians.”

“Take a look at outpatient care. Someone who has surgery done. Usually, the ability to be moved or driven to a checkup is tough because you are incapacitated from the surgery. You need help from another family member just to go into the hospital. And if everything is okay, you go home. Why can’t that be done with a wireless unit that is just on your belt and transmits that information back and the only time that you have to go to the hospital is when you have an issue? Not for regular maintenance or a regular check up. These are things that until you can get the electronics small enough, portable enough, with long enough battery life, you couldn’t imagine that type of procedure.”

“Then go down to the medical device market. And if you watch the battery life, that is the most demanding specification that medical device makers have. The idea of opening up a patient every five or six years, to change out their defibrillator is a pretty tough practice. The things you can do to get that power usage lower or give the customer mores processing performance for the same power, all become pretty desirable.”

On the conditions that create innovation:

“You need great people and that is usually the combination of companies and universities and it can vary depending on the city and location. It does take funding. But the good thing about venture capitalists is that if they find bright people, they will show up.”

“I do think that states can play a role in this. You can create a friendly environment for investors to get this work done. It could be tax credits. It could be some common shared facilities so that the small startups can use them on a pro-rated basis. I don’t believe the states have to be involved (in funding startup directly). What you need are those (above) elements to operate. Funding can usually be solved but barriers, limitations, facilities, those are the things that states can help on.”

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