Healthy innovation

The

medical device market — worth about £4bn — is set to continue its recent strong growth, according to independent research.

Octo Media, organisers of the forthcoming Medical Device Technology exhibition, being held at the NEC on 15 and 16 February, suggests this growth will be fuelled by innovation, with almost half of the UK’s leading medical device manufacturers reporting that they are using innovation rather than price to take on their competitors. New products are being developed for current markets by 70 per cent of the companies, while 56 per cent are innovating to take them into new areas of the sector.

Some fields are proving particularly fruitful on the innovation front, as new materials and technologies are applied to meet challenges. Microsystems are being developed for minimally invasive surgery, new generations of stents are being created for cardiovascular applications, and products are being invented in the field of tissue engineering where new tissues and, potentially, organs may be grown in the long term.