Ireland to become medical device hub

22-05-2008

by Billy MacInnes

The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is investing millions of euro to help medical device companies gain faster access to the European market.

The investment will be used to begin developing Ireland into a global centre of excellence in the medical devices area, a market worth an estimated EUR115 billion globally. The organisation will also be building up a network of permanent and part-time staff, as well as clinical experts and consultants, to help companies reduce the time required to gain the CE mark required for the European market.

The attraction for multinational medical device companies seeking to sell products into Europe will be in the NSAI's efforts to significantly speed up the CE process. Chairman Maurice Buckley said the organisation wanted to serve big multinationals and make Ireland an attractive base for them.

Building up expertise in CE certification could potentially encourage some global companies to maintain manufacturing bases in Ireland rather than seeking to relocate to cheaper countries.

Buckley was keen to stress that the focus was not only on multinational companies, but also the emerging market of Irish-based firms. Many are small companies that are burning capital, have sold nothing and have to get their product to market quickly. A faster turnaround in the CE process would be a great benefit to them.

NSAI has certified over 100 medical devices in the past 12 months but is hoping the investment in building technical expertise to speed up the CE process will lead to a significant increase in the numbers certified going forward.

An indication of just how important the medical device industry is to Ireland was given by minister for trade and commerce, John McGuinness, speaking at the opening of the first Medical Devices Conference on 22 May. He described the sector as "already one of Ireland's great success stories. Half of the top 25 global medical device companies have a presence in Ireland, over 140 companies make and provide key components and services to the medical device sector, exports exceed EUR6 billion and the industry employs more than 25,000".