MANCHESTER, NH – Friday’s presentation at ARMI BiofabUSA was as symbolic as it was tangible. Founder and father of reinvention Dean Kamen carried a shovel and a sledgehammer on stage with him.
The shovel, to represent the groundbreaking of a new workforce training center for the regenerative manufacturing hub in the Millyard. The sledgehammer, equally good for breaking ground (more so in a frozen New Hampshire) is also a powerful tool that breaks down barriers and creates a pathways to progress.
Kamen is moving full steam ahead.
The next phase of Manchester’s transformation into the nation’s “ReGen Valley” is underway as Kamen, founder of the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), welcomed city, state, and federal leaders to celebrate the present – and the future.
“Here we are bringing together all of it — federal, state, and city — to show that we can improve the quality of life for people by giving them cures, not chronic treatments,” Kamen said. “We’re going to make this region the next industry of the future.”
The new state-of-the-art facility, funded in part through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, builds on the 2017 investment by the Department of Defense that launched ARMI. The expansion marks a key milestone in the city’s evolution from textile manufacturing to biomedical innovation — and in Kamen’s vision to make Manchester the hub of a national biofabrication ecosystem.
“This is about our national security, our global leadership in the bioeconomy, and the economic future of this state and region,” said Dr. Jennifer McDonald, ARMI’s physician leader who opened Thursday’s ceremony. “It also matters to every one of us with a loved one who faces chronic illness or injury.”
Mayor Jay Ruais called the event a “full-circle moment” for Manchester’s Millyard, once the largest privately owned industrial complex in the world. He said that ARMI is the next chapter in Manchester’s industrial story, and related his own sense of connection to the place and time.
“My great-great-Meme and Pepe came here from Montreal 130 years ago to work in these mills,” Ruais said. “Now we’re seeing another wave of renewal — this time in biomanufacturing and biotechnology. It’s an incredible opportunity to be at the ground level of it.”
Ruais praised the collaboration among local, state, and federal officials — and noted the importance of education and workforce training to sustain Manchester’s growing biotech sector. “ReGen Valley is truly leading the way to build connections across education, innovation, and industry,” he said.
“The future of our country — really, the future of humanity — is being written right here in the Millyard of Manchester,” Pappas said. “Projects like this strengthen our competitiveness and our national security.”
Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander called ARMI “a beacon of hope” in a divided time. “What you’re doing here brings people together — across every level of government, across small businesses and educational institutions,” she said. “ReGen Valley represents the kind of bold, forward-looking thinking our country needs right now.”
Letters from U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both unable to attend due to the ongoing government shutdown in Washington, were read aloud by staff members. Each praised ARMI’s “visionary” leadership and reaffirmed federal support for its mission.
ARMI’s growth from concept to national innovation hub has relied on sustained collaboration among government, academia, and private industry, said longtime ARMI executive Maureen Toohey.
“When Dean had the vision to create an industry around tissue and organ manufacturing, we knew we needed to combine engineering and automation with the biology that’s been sitting in university labs for decades,” Toohey said. “Today, we’re realizing that vision — ensuring these innovations reach the patients who need them.”
After the remarks were finished the crowd of dignitaries and ARMI employees walked outside to the rear of the mill building for a photo opp. Kamen, Ruais, Goodlander, Pappas, and others dug shovels into a symbolic trough of sand and lifted ceremonial sledgehammers alongside shovels to signal the next phase of this project is underway.
Kamen reflected on the symbolism: “We’re breaking ground not just on a building, but on a new industry — one that will make this little city a world leader in regenerative medicine.”
