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INDUSTRY FOCUS
DrRossO’Neill,CEO,MuteButton
‘The indigenous industry has grown in Ireland primarily because of the innateDNAhere – there is a strong knowledge of how tomake the products andwhere themarkets are’
IF YOU WERE TO TAKE THE PULSE OF IRELAND’S MEDICAL DEVICES SECTOR, THE SIGNS WOULD BE THAT IT’S IN GOOD HEALTH. Seventeen out of theworld’s top 25 medical technologies companies have a significant manufacturing base here, Ireland is the largest medical technology employer per capita in the EuropeanUnion, and exports fromIre- land in 2011 stood at €7.3bn – that’s up 16pc on the 2008 value. Another positive indicator is that
60pc of the major medical technology companies in Ireland are hiring this year, according to a recent survey by the Irish Medical Devices Association (IMDA). Such figures and the strong leadership in the sector augur well for its future, says Sharon Higgins, direc- tor of the IMDA, which is a business sector in IBEC. The association has around 150 members that range in size from enterprises with one or two em- ployees to companies that employ thou- sands in Ireland. The roots of today’s success in the
country’s medtech sector can be tracked back to the 1960s and 1970s when the IDA attracted international companies to establish a presence here, explainsHiggins. “Originally the invest- ment would have been in basic manu- facturing,” she says. “That meant we then saw a growth in the supply indus- tries such as packaging and compo- nents, and over the following decade that became very important.” Fast forward to today, and many of
12 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 4 Spring/Summer 2012
L–R:BarryO’Leary,CEO, IDA; Sharon Higgins, director, IMDA; and Paraic Curtis, IMDAchairman and vice-president endoscopy EMEAatBoston Scientific at the launch of the IMDA’s FourYear Strategy for the medtech sector earlier this year
the multinational companies that came to Ireland have increased their foot- print, says Higgins, and the expertise and supporting infrastructure has helped to encourage the indigenous industry too. “The indigenous industry has grown
in Ireland primarily because of the in- nate DNA here – there is a strong knowledge of howtomake the products and where the markets are and how large corporationsworkwithin the peo- ple who have worked here over a long period of time,” she explains. “That has resulted in newcompanies starting, and
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