Google has been partnering with Mayo Clinic, the best hospital in the United States, for years. But today, the company has announced a move to make this partnership a little more serious: Google will open an office in Rochester MN this year, where the Mayo Clinic is located. Google already has dozens of offices in the United States, but this will be the first in Minneapolis. The company worked with the Mayo Clinic to find spaces that would allow them to easily collaborate with the Mayo Clinic team while seeking to “transform patient care”.
Announcing a new office during the COVID-19 pandemic may seem a little unusual at first, as companies and employees are embracing remote work more than ever. Google recognizes that they will be waiting to open fully by the end of this year and will wait until state and local COVID-19 guidelines say it is safe to do so.
It is not clear specifically that Google will be collaborating with the Mayo Clinic in this new location, but it is probably just a means of working together more efficiently on the types of projects we have already undertaken. In the past 18 months or so, Google says it has moved Mayo Clinic data to its cloud and worked on projects like using AI to help doctors develop radiotherapy plans. The Mayo Clinic also worked with Google in its response to COVID-19, although exactly what the two organizations did together was unclear.
While a new office is not the most exciting news to hear from Google, it shows that the company continues to take health seriously, something it has in common with some of the other tech giants. Apple has made health a focus with its Apple Watch hardware, and Amazon has worked on a variety of health initiatives and partnerships in recent years, not all of which have been successful.