The ENTIRE European Digital Innovation Hub, led by Tyndall National Institute, co‑organised “Scaling Digital HealthTech in Ireland” with the other three Irish EDIHs as the first event in a planned sector‑focused series.
The event brought together more than 250 delegates from SMEs, MNCs, government agencies and the research community, to explore how Irish SMEs can develop and deploy Digital Health solutions in the face of challenges including regulatory aspects, ensuring cyber resilience, and access to funding.
The ENTIRE European Digital Innovation Hub has to date delivered more than 340 digital innovation services to 221 organisations and helped trigger 28 additional investments showing how deep‑tech expertise can accelerate adoption and growth in Digital HealthTech.
Dr Paul Galvin, Director of ENTIRE at Tyndall National Institute, said: “Ireland is uniquely positioned to lead in Digital HealthTech, with a strong ecosystem spanning research, industry and government. Through ENTIRE and the wider EDIH network, we are enabling SMEs to overcome key barriers to scaling digital technologies, from regulatory readiness and cyber resilience, to enabling AI powered solutions, thereby ensuring Irish SMEs compete globally with innovative, patient‑centred solutions.”
Session 1, chaired by Erik O’Donovan (Ibec), focused on policy and ecosystem level levers to enable and support Irish-based Digital HealthTech SMEs to develop and deploy novel solutions for healthcare delivery.
The session opened with Joe Healy (Enterprise Ireland) who highlighted the importance of Digital HealthTech to Ireland. Laura Clifford (Enterprise Ireland) described the important role of the Irish EDIHs, as enablers for digitalisation in Irish SMEs. Fiona O’Sullivan ( Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment) highlighted the Irish Government Strategies including National Life Sciences Strategy in support of emerging Digital HealthTech. Kieran Daly (General Manager and Co-Founder, HealthBeacon; and Ibec Digital Health Working Group) provided an exemplar of how Digital HealthTech can directly impact patient care pathway in terms of patient adherence. Niamh Smyth TD (Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation) reinforced Irish Government commitment to support Irish-based companies involved in developing and deploying Digital HealthTech through various government agencies and funding instruments, including the €23 million support for the second phase of the EDIH programme. A panel discussion highlighted exemplars of EDIH support for SMEs in Ireland through the participation of Louise McKiernan (Co-Founder, Sammy), Joe Moore (Founder and CEO, Reivr Fusion).
Session 2, chaired by Dr Paul Galvin, Director of ENTIRE at Tyndall, focused on the foundations needed to scale digital health technologies. Professor Barry O’Sullivan (University College Cork) explored AI in digital HealthTech; Fionn Lahart (Co-Founder and CEO, LUMA Vision) discussed the journey from clinical need to FDA approval; and John O’Gorman (S3 Connected Health and CeADAR) addressed regulatory guidance for AI‑enabled medical devices. The session also highlighted cyber resilience, with Glenda Deveney (MTU), and European opportunities with Patrick Sweeney (Enterprise Europe Network).
The event highlighted the competitive advantage for scaling Digital HealthTech in Ireland, based on the cluster of key stakeholders who collaborate closely to drive the Digital HealthTech ecosystem. The EDIH programme is a key stakeholder in that ecosystem to support SMEs to adopt new technologies, enable skills development, facilitate networking with other stakeholders, and support to find investment. This is well aligned with the Tyndall 2030 Strategy of leveraging Tyndall expertise and resources to support SMEs to develop and commercialise new products and services.
