Addressing Western medtech design bias in emerging markets
08-Jul-15, Medical Device And Diagnostic Industry
The Western world commands the vast majority of the global medical device market, with Europe and the United States combined accounting for nearly 70% of industry sales.
But the reality is that won’t be true forever.
Image: University of Minnesota
Emerging markets, such as China, India, and Brazil, have larger and faster growing populations, emerging middle classes, and underdeveloped healthcare systems, making them the new hotbeds of industry growth. In fact, 47% of medtech executives say the Asia-Pacific region has high growth potential for medical device sales over the next five years, versus 24% for North America and only 17% for Europe. South America also outranked the two regions, and the Middle East came in just behind North America and ahead of Europe, which barely beat out Africa.
Yet despite this shifting market landscape, most medical devices are still made by companies based in the West.