5 Reasons Big Medtech Companies Can (and Should) Innovate

Given how much money big medical device companies spend each year on acquisitions, it's clear that those companies have a desire for true innovation. And yet, they hold back on R&D spending because larger corporations need predictability, repeatability, and scalability. Simply put, they are less risk tolerant than startups. Steve Geist, director of R&D within the transcatheter mitral and tricuspid therapies division at Edwards Lifesciences, gave MD&M Minneapolis attendees five solid reasons why big medtech firms can, and should, innovate beyond line extensions. 1. They already have an R&D infrastructure in place Innovation isn't just about bottom-up responsibility, Geist said, it's about top-down as well. While R&D infrastructure at big companies can sometimes feel like being on a hamster wheel, Geist said organizations have a responsibility to take the hamster wheel of infrastructure and fix that in such a way that it becomes less of an exercise in documentation and more time spent on actual engineering.  2. They have all the cool toys Large companies are rich in tools and capabilities, Geist said. "It's the big companies that have a lot of these capabilities on site, right? ... They may not be being used currently for innovation, but the capabilities are there. So what happens if you turn those capabilities loose to in-house innovation? Suddenly you have an advantage over the startup company that has to go outside for every aspect of their development....
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Tags: MD & M Minneapolis R Source Type: news