The Medtech4 Europe project has reached the end of its first phase
November 25th, 2020 - The Medtech4 Europe Interreg Europe program will complete its first phase in November 2020
after two and a half years. The dissemination event which summarized the results was held on 17
November 2020, due to the epidemic situation, in an online interface, in which the South
Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency (hereinafter: STRIA) also participated.
The event was opened by moderator Charlotte Geerdink, followed by a short video message from Dr.
Joost van den Akker, Minister of Economy, Education and Sport of the Province of Limburg
(Netherlands). After the video, Patrick Boisseau, Director of Research and Development at Medtech
Europe, briefly summarized how to make Europe more attractive in health research and
development, the values of regional innovation ecosystems and how to coordinate them.
In the continuation of the event, the partners of the Medtech4 Europe project presented their
experiences gained during the implementation. In each summary, the speakers outlined the
challenges they faced and what they had learned from the project.
Steinbeis Innovation GmbH, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
With regard to challenges, there was a need for a partial and centralized source of
information and support for clinical trials. They learned a lot from the good practice of the
Trial Nation (Denmark) and the study trip to Maastricht. During the planning of the action,
great attention is paid to strengthening and continuing existing initiatives.
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Region, France
The challenge for them is that although the AURA Region provides strong financial support,
Medtech SMEs do not take advantage of this. This results in a lack of access to technology
platforms in this sector. They learned a lot from the program at the Danish University of
Technology.
Helsinki-Uusima Regional Council, Finland
The challenge for them was that SMEs needed better transparency and accessibility to
comply with regulations. They were influenced by the Brightlands Maastrich Health Campus
and the MedLim Start up program. In their action planning, they focus on strengthening the
Medtech ecosystem collaboration.
Province of Limburg, Netherlands
For them, wider internationalization through European Union cooperation and projects is
important. It was positively assessed that they managed to establish contact with Danish
stakeholders during the implementation of the project. In their action planning, they want to
focus mostly on organizing webinars.
South Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency, Hungary
They faced the challenge of the need for the right organizational, professional, and
technological background to significantly increase the market efficiency of medical
technology development organizations. They gained a lot of experience from the French EIT
Health Summer University and the CEA Technological Innovation Exhibition Space, as well as
the Danish Business Support Program in the Capital Region. Capacity building of medical
companies is important for them in action planning.
Upper Silesian Agency for Entrepreneurship and development Ltd., Poland
It is of paramount importance for them to strengthen the networking of universities,
research institutions and SMEs, as well as to understand development perspectives in the
context of cross-sectoral cooperation. They learned a lot from good practices in Danish,
Dutch and German. The main focus of their action planning is on the development of the
non-financial support system.
The Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark
They faced the challenge of lacking a systematic approach to collaboration between hospitals
and SMEs, thus missing opportunities to address key issues in the health sector. They were
influenced by the Maastricht ecosystem of Brightlands and the Limburg Health Campus and
Innovation Factory. In addition, the development of regional infrastructure for the SME
sector is considered important.
Cluster Technologies for Living Environment – techforlife, Lombardy, Italy
It is very important for them that innovative SMEs can go beyond the final milestone in the
marketing of medical products and help these organizations to develop clinical trials. They
gained a lot of experience during their visits to Stuttgart and Maastricht. Their plans include
the creation of a competency centre focusing on technology transfer and clinical trials.
The event closed with a very special request from the moderator. She asked everyone to wish
something to the Medtech4 Europe project in one word. Wishes were expressed such as openness,
success, quality of life, cooperation and ambition.
About The Medtech4 Europe Project
The Medtech4 Europe project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and
Hungary within the Interreg Europe Program.