Mentoring programme launched for Irish medtech start-ups
The Irish Medical Device Association (IMDA), the Ibec group that represents the medical device industry, has developed a new mentoring programme with Enterprise Ireland. The pilot programme was launched by Minister of State at the Departments of Education and Skills Damien English TD in the University of Limerick last night, Thursday 2 October.
As part of the programme four high potential startups in medtech will be mentored by experienced professionals over a six month period. The companies participating in the pilot phase are CEO’s from Dublin based Incereb and ClearSight Innovations and CEO’s from Cork based AdantaMed and PMD solutions. The mentors have been chosen because of their expert knowledge and the specific needs of the mentee companies. Galway based Aerogen, Natus Manufacturing Ltd and Creganna-Tactx Medical and Dublin based Vascular Solutions have been selected as mentors.
Minister Damien English TD said: “Cooperation between government and the business community is a vital part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014. This tailored mentoring programme will partner experienced indigenous and multinational companies to support their growth potential and create jobs.”
IMDA Director, Sinead Keogh said “Of the 300 medtech companies in Ireland, four out of five are SMEs and nearly half of all the companies here are indigenous. Helping small companies make it big, is a priority under IMDA’s Statement of Strategy and Ibec’s An Ireland that works campaign. Start-ups and SMEs help to drive innovation and research development needed to grow the industry. Innovation often emerges from intimate collaborations between health professionals, academia and manufacturers – an approach to which small businesses are particularly suited to.”