The Covid-19 pandemic has wrought disruption on an unprecedented scale, not least in the healthcare sector. Health service providers around the world have been forced to adopt new technologies at a pace which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. And many of these new technologies have been developed by Ireland’s world-renowned and highly-innovative medtech sector.
The sector comprises more than 350 companies, two-thirds of them indigenous Irish firms, and includes 14 of the world’s top 15 medtech companies. The scale and depth of the sector has established Ireland as one of five global hubs for the industry.
The statistics for the Irish medtech industry speak for themselves. Some 80 per cent of stents used worldwide are manufactured here; 50 per cent of ventilators used in acute hospitals are made in Ireland; and 25 per cent of injectable devices used by diabetes patients and others are produced here.
In addition, Ireland is now the largest per capita employer of medtech professionals in Europe with 40,000 people working in the industry.
While global leaders like Stryker, Medtronic, Abbot and Boston Scientific may tend to command the headlines, Ireland has produced a wave of highly-innovative native medtech firms which are making a name for themselves internationally.
A number of these firms participated in the Enterprise Ireland Med in Ireland event last month. This ambitious group included patientMpower, a digital healthcare company providing monitoring solutions for people living with long-term illnesses. The company's technology has been used to monitor people with less severe Covid symptoms and has the potential to play a major role in the care of people suffering from long-term respiratory complications as a result of the virus.
World leader
Another participant in the remote monitoring area, Vitalograph, is the acknowledged world leader in the analysis of cough medication trials. The company's remote monitoring solutions are now being used to enable the most vulnerable patients with conditions such as COPD and cystic fibrosis to remain in their homes and not travel to hospitals or clinics where they are at risk picking up other infections.
LetsGetChecked is one of Ireland’s small band of unicorns – early-stage companies with valuations of greater than $1 billion. The official testing partner for the Irish Olympic Team ships at-home health tests to a patient’s front door and its solutions enable patients to complete a personal health record, receive medical reviews and support, collect their samples, and easily access the results.
Very topical considering recent headlines concerning the booster vaccine rollout, Swiftqueue is helping to revolutionise patient appointment management. The company’s self-service portal allows patients to schedule, view, reschedule, cancel appointments and view specific test results from any location.
Innovation in the sector is being supported by the Irish Medtech Skillnet, the learning network for companies of all sizes in the medical technology and engineering sector.
"We have 250 member firms," says Dr Ann O'Connell, head of funded projects for medtech and engineering with Ibec. "We are funded by Skillnet Ireland and promoted by Ibec through the Irish Medtech Association, and we provide training for both Ibec member firms and non-members."
The network works with members on a number of key areas including quality, regulatory affairs, advanced manufacturing and sterility.
“We develop training programmes specifically for these and other areas,” says O’Connell. “For example, at the moment we are developing a brand new training programme on the sterility of medical devices. This will be the first of its kind in Ireland. A lot of companies had to send people to the US for that training before now. But the regulations are different over there so it is better if they can get it in Ireland.”
The programme is being designed in close consultation with member firms. “They decide on the course content and the modules they’d like to see included. We work with academic institutions in Ireland or abroad if appropriate to create and deliver the programme. It will be an accredited programme and will be level 9 on the QQI National Framework of Qualifications.”
Science degree
That accreditation is very important, according to O’Connell. “People taking the programme will typically have come out of college with a science degree before going to work with a company in the medtech sector. They will have a good academic qualification but no specific knowledge of sterility. This programme will address that gap.”
The Irish Medtech Skillnet has also worked with the Irish Medtech Association on the development of the Realise Your R&D Ambition programme which has been designed to increase the level and sophistication of R&D taking place in Ireland.
“That started out with research among our member companies to find out where they are in relation to R&D activity, where they want to be, and what they need to get there,” says O’Connell.
"That resulted in a report which included a seven-step guide to realising R&D ambitions. We went on to produce a training programme based on that. The programme includes four workshops, and we bring people in from academia and industry to talk to C-suite level people about research and development activity. Participants also get to see what other companies like Stryker and Alcon are doing."
Another Irish Medtech Skillnet programme which will support the innovation capacity of the Irish medtech sector is the Masters of Engineering (MEng) in Digitalisation of Manufacturing.
Delivered through the Technological University of Shannon, the programme covers essential elements of digitalisation of manufacturing and their application in practice.
“We also offer a number of programmes in the areas of quality and regulatory affairs,” says O’Connell. “New regulations coming in Europe will be heavy going for all companies in the sector, particularly SMEs. We are providing a lot of training supports for companies to help them with that. Programmes go all the way up to a Masters in Regulatory Affairs delivered through the Technological University for the North West.”
