OITBs fostering innovation
OITBs contributing to an open and connected innovation ecosystem
Due to long reimbursement processes, patient access to innovative high-risk medical devices can take very long. In addition, the new EU Medical Devices Regulation (2017/745) is imposing stricter requirements on medical devices developers. This is a big challenge for the developers if they want to maintain their competitiveness and innovation capacity.
The EU has recognized this challenge and invested more than EUR 285 million to support Open Innovation Test Beds (OITBs). Those OITBs are supposed to provide access to facilities and services required in the process of developing, testing and upscaling new innovations. Since they are bringing together expertise from different renowned institutions throughout Europe, OITBs are expected to help reduce costs, investment risks and time to market.
The EU has created a Results Pack featuring various OITBs. Among these is TBMED aiming to help medical device developers with their challenges offering a single-entry point to access a wide range of services. Read the EU’s article on OITBs accelerating European innovation here.