The Irish Medtech Association, the Ibec group that represents the medtech industry, has called on the Government to ensure the sector's competitiveness capacity is supported in next month's budget.
Ireland is now internationally recognised as one of the world's top five global hubs for medical technology, the Ibec group said.
It is also one of the top seven employers of medtech professionals in Europe as well as the greatest employer of medtech professionals, per capita, with more than 40,000 employed.
The Irish Medtech Association's Budget Submission 2022 makes a number of recommendations to Government across enterprise, innovation, education and health to maintain competitiveness.
Irish Medtech Association Director Sinead Keogh said that start-ups continue to be vital component of a thriving ecosystem and source of innovation within the medtech sector.
"Startups take on risk to drive radical innovation in the face of unmet clinical needs that represent significant commercial opportunities.
"However, to get these products to patients they need sufficient funding to get technologies through key stages including, prototyping and clinical investigations, to obtaining regulatory approval and to get products into the health system," she added.
To support startups, the Irish Medtech Association believes Budget 2022 should include measures increase the threshold for the reduced rate of Capital Gains Tax from €1m to €15m to encourage risk taking and re-investment.
It also says the Employment Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS) should be replaced as it is currently unworkable with all the burden resting on the company for adherence.
Reform of the Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP) is also recommended, including an increase in the limit on market value of issue, but unexercised, shares under the scheme to €10m to attract and retain talent.
Irish Medtech Chair Tom Clarke said that Ireland is well positioned to build on its success and achieve new heights by gaining a greater share of the global medtech market which is forecast to grow 4.4% annually with sales expected to reach over €508 billion by 2023.
"However, to reach our potential we need to maintain our competitiveness and ensure we have the right business environment, which includes fostering collaboration between adjacent life sciences and technology industries," Mr Clarke said.
He said the blurring of traditional industry lines continues, with many healthcare solutions now arising from convergence across these healthtech industries.
"Given this trend, national ecosystem strategies are becoming common place in countries with big ambitions for healthtech innovation, such as France and the UK," Tom Clarke said.
"For future competitive advantage we are asking Government to develop a national healthtech strategy and appoint appropriate resources within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment," he added.
