Irish Medtech calls for stronger support to help startups and SMEs scale
Irish Medtech’s Budget 2027 submission highlights the role of startups and SMEs in Ireland’s MedTech sector and calls for stronger support around R&D, capital, skills and adoption of innovation.
Irish Medtech, the Ibec group representing Ireland’s medical technology sector, has published its Budget 2027 submission, Safeguarding and Scaling Ireland’s Medtech Ecosystem, setting out measures it believes are needed to protect competitiveness and help the sector continue to grow.
The submission is particularly relevant to smaller companies. Irish Medtech states that, by volume, around 80% of MedTech businesses in Ireland are startups or SMEs, underlining the importance of ensuring that early-stage and scaling companies can access the capital, technical capability and commercial pathways needed to move innovation forward.
Among its recommendations are measures to strengthen the R&D Tax Credit, support clinical validation and health-service adoption, improve access to capital for founders, accelerate industry-led skills development and support the transition towards more sustainable manufacturing.
The message reflects a wider challenge across MedTech: promising technologies rarely progress through technical development, validation and commercialisation using internal resources alone. SMEs often need access to specialist engineering expertise, research facilities, regulatory knowledge and collaborative R&D support to reduce development risk and reach key milestones.
That challenge closely aligns with the role of NWCAM2. The programme connects eligible SMEs with specialist technical expertise across its academic and applied-research partner network, supporting advanced manufacturing and product-development projects that can help companies overcome technical barriers and move innovation closer to market.
Original article
Irish Medtech — External threats mean Budget 2027 requires decisive action to safeguard global hub