Laura Hughes, MPN editor, describes her recent trip to Med in Ireland and learned why the country is considered a hub for the medtech industry.
Ireland is home to 18 of the world’s top 25 medical device manufacturers, as well as being the second largest country for exporting medical devices in Europe. Ireland is therefore often thought of as a medtech hub. Government initiatives such as Enterprise Ireland (EI) and STEM programmes such as those by Irish Manufacturing Research, where the organisation works with both primary and secondary schools to encourage the younger generation to be interested in manufacturing and medtech attempts to ensure the current success of the sector within Ireland will continue for many more years to come.
On Thursday 19 October more than 800 delegates headed to the RDS in Dublin for the biennial invite-only Med in Ireland event. The event was hosted by EI, a government organisation aiming to develop and grow Irish enterprises across the global market. Last year, EI invested €23 million in Irish start-ups and supported a total of 132 start-up companies. EI also supports businesses throughout all stages of their growth and connects them to international customers.
In addition to EI, medtech companies in Ireland also have the potential to access a €500 million Disruptive Technology Fund. This fund provides an opportunity for small and medium sized companies to collaborate with multinationals and research centres to develop new products and technologies. These systems play a key role in making Ireland the medtech hub it is considered to be.
Before the exhibition began keynote speeches were delivered from industry experts, and Chris Coburn, chief innovation officer, Partners HealthCare led a panel discussion focused on the advancements in medical technologies. There were representatives from Ireland, Dubai, the United States and Belgium to ensure a global perspective was presented.
Ireland’s outstanding health eco system was mentioned by Liam Kelly, chief executive officer, Teleflex. Kelly discussed how unique Ireland is because different organisations often work together, including competitors collaborating in some cases in order to keep medtech local. He explained how research and development centres are able to easily engage with hospitals in Ireland and during my trip I was able to experience this firsthand.
I visited BioInnovate, one of the world’s largest medical device hubs which is only a short walk away from the Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI). The HIHI is based in the hospital and works together with BioInnovate to solve problems and improve patient care. One of the many success stories to result from the two organisations working together is Embo medical, a medical device company who are developing the first true one-shot vascular embolisation device.
Ireland places a strong focus on encouraging innovation and so the Cleveland Clinic joined with EI to present an innovation award during the Med in Ireland event. This year’s winner was Cormac Farrelly for his approach to target challenging embolisations. Charles Steiner, technology development director, Cleveland Clinic Innovations described the technology as a “game changer” and commented how it had the potential to offer both a near term and long term impact to patient care for all of us. As his prize Farrelly will have the opportunity to visit the Cleveland Clinic to develop the device with clinicians, and additionally, Farrelly and the other two finalists will be awarded €15,000 in funding from EI.
With Ireland’s solid infrastructure in place which supports both individual innovators of medtech devices and medtech companies, alongside multiple organisations working together in attempt to keep medtech local, it doesn’t appear that the momentum of medtech within Ireland will be slowing down anytime soon.
