HealthTech companies moving overseas due to manufacturing and scale-up barriers

“It was my goal to make my product in the UK. I tried to do it two years ago but failed…”

 

• The Centre for Process Innovation’s (CPI) new reports identify solutions to make UK more attractive to HealthTech companies and enable innovative product to reach the market faster. 
• The HealthTech industry contributes significantly to the UK economy, with an annual turnover of £30bn but there are opportunities to improve patient access. 
• The UK needs a HealthTech industrial strategy with funding support to support scale-up manufacturing and a streamlined access to innovative scale up and validation capabilities.

 

New reports published today (23 October) by CPI reveal the UK urgently needs to deliver a HealthTech industrial strategy to avoid falling behind in the rapidly growing HealthTech sector in the UK.  

 

The reports warn that unless the Government steps in to support the industry, the UK could be losing out on highly skilled jobs and billions of pounds in revenue.  

 

In 2021, the UK HealthTech sector consisted of 4,353 businesses with a £30bn turnover employing over 145,600 people across 4802 UK sites, according to data from the Office for Life Sciences.   

 

UK MedTech abroad 

 

Challenges and Opportunities for UK HealthTech Manufacturing Scale Up highlights that many companies have, or are considering, moving overseas to benefit from more competitive pricing and more flexible manufacturing processes.  

 

Over 90% of UK based medical technology companies are SMEs, making a complex manufacturing and regulatory landscape challenging. As one respondent highlights in the report: “It was my big goal to make [the product] in the UK. I tried to do it two years ago but failed because I didn’t have the support with bringing all the factories together. A lot of the companies were unresponsive because I was so small scale.” 

 

A further case study highlighted in East Asia companies will get support to join up supply chains to provide a “product in a box”, compared with the UK where companies have to build up their own supply chain. The costs of tooling in East Asia are also up to 4-5 times cheaper and with much shorter lead times. 

 

Why innovation is needed 

 

Published against a backdrop of ever-increasing waiting lists, with over 7m people currently waiting for care according to NHS England, medical technologies provide innovative solutions to diagnosis and treatment which could lead the way in solving some of our biggest health challenges.  

 

The reports highlight that UK medical technology businesses want to keep their products in the UK, governments overseas provide more support to the sector, allowing for manufacturers in other countries to provide services at much more competitive rates.  

 

Rahul Kapoor, HealthTech Director at CPI, said: “We urgently need HealthTech industrial growth strategy. The barriers identified in these reports must be lifted, to allow UK to tap into the full growth potential. HealthTech is a significant contributor to the UK economy with an annual turnover of nearly £30 billion and allows patients to live healthier and longer lives.  

“Government support to accelerate UK HealthTech ecosystem can drive industrial growth and help accelerate UK’s life sciences growth ambitions on our shores.” 

Rapid Fluidics Ltd, based in Newcastle-upon Tyne, uses 3D printing to create HealthTech protypes. CEO Paul Marshall provides an insight into the challenges faced by companies in the health-tech space.  

 
Paul Marshall, CEO of Rapid Fluidics, said: “There are so many possibilities in the UK for HealthTech, we have a wealth of experience in R&D and innovation, but it falls down at the point of scaling up and getting these products to the people that need them most. That’s what we want to do as a company, but faced with so many regulatory and manufacturing challenges makes that extremely difficult. It can take a number of years before people in the UK get access to our technology. By keeping HealthTech products in the UK, it’s not just good for business and the economy, we can tackle the health problems we face too.”  

 

A second report – An Action Plan: Driving Growth of the UK Digital Health Industry – maps the changes needed for the UK to maximise its vast global potential in the digital health market. As the largest subsector within HealthTech, digital health consists of products that collect, process or use data within a healthcare setting, including electronic patient records, image analysis tools and connected wearable devices. This report shows that this fast-growing industry is being hampered in the UK by capacity issues and slow pace. “Action is needed now to maintain our leadership position and maximise growth,” the report states. 

 

Challenges and Opportunities for UK HealthTech Manufacturing Scale Up, led by CPI in collaboration with ABHI and funding from Innovate UK -- is based on interviews, surveys and workshops with about 100 UK companies within the sector.  An Action Plan: Driving Growth of the UK Digital Health Industry, written in conjunction with Cambridge Design Partnership and Innovate UK, reflects insights from over 50 stakeholders across the digital health ecosystem. 

The reports can be downloaded at https://www.uk-cpi.com/news/cpi-reports-reveal-challenges-and-opportunities-for-uk-healthtech  

 

Notes to the Editor 

 

About CPI 

CPI connects the dots within the innovation ecosystem to make great ideas and inventions a reality to benefit people, places and planet. We’re a pioneering social enterprise that accelerates the development, scale-up and commercialisation of deep tech and sustainable manufacturing solutions. Through our incredible innovation experts and infrastructure, we look beyond the obvious to transform healthcare and drive towards a sustainable future.    

    

As a trusted partner of industry, academia, government, and the investment community, we’re the catalyst for delivering smart AgriFoodTech, energy storage, HealthTech, materials, and pharma innovations. We believe by working together we can build a better collective future, and as part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, we facilitate access to world-class organisations to deliver transformation across industries.    

    

Creating lasting global impact from the North of England and Scotland, we invest in people and disruptive technologies to invigorate economies, create circular supply chains and make our world a better place.   

  

Let’s innovate together: uk-cpi.com  

Connect with us: LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook  

 

About HealthTech at CPI

 

Solving scale-up and adoption challenges for transformative health and wellness technologies to meet global healthcare needs. 

We push the boundaries of manufacturing and apply Internet of Things technologies to help bring HealthTech solutions to patients. Our in vitro diagnostics innovation enables earlier and more accurate diagnoses, and our wireless communications, flexible electronics, and additive manufacturing expertise make next-generation medical devices and wearables more wearable.

 

Editorial enquiries: 

Eddie Steinson (he/him)

Senior Press Officer
CPI

m   +44 (0) 7974509899

e    eddie.steinson@uk-cpi.com
w   www.uk-cpi.com

Follow CPI on social:
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

 

This email was sent by Centre for Process Innovation Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, registered number: 05002194, registered office: Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar, Cleveland, TS10 4RF, UK or where so indicated, by its trading subsidiary CPI Innovation Services Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, registered number: 05735040, registered office: Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar, Cleveland, TS10 4RF, UK.

PRIVACY NOTICE: Our Privacy Policy explains what you can expect when Centre for Process Innovation Limited and/or CPI Innovation Services Limited collects personal data. You can review our Privacy Policy here. 

EMAIL CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and all of its attachments are confidential. If you have received this email in error, please contact us and remove it from your system. In such circumstances you must not copy it, forward it or use it in any way.

PLEASE NOTE: Email is not a secure form of communication and it is your responsibility to check that this email and its attachments are virus free before opening them.  We do not accept legal service of documents or notices by email.

Please consider the environment before printing this email