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Enterprise Support Services Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 November 2012

Thursday, 22 November 2012

Questions (31)

John Browne

Question:

31. Deputy John Browne asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the way he proposed to help startups in the healthcare sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51839/12]

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Written answers

Enterprise Ireland works intensively with high potential start-ups to drive growth and has in place a number of supports to assist entrepreneurs and new start-up companies including those in the healthcare sector. Enterprise Ireland’s financial support directly assists entrepreneurs and leverages matching funding from banks and investors.

In addition to financial supports, Enterprise Ireland have a broad system which supports entrepreneurs in their efforts to set up internationally focused, innovative companies with significant job creation potential. These include a range of workshops, seminars and training courses for entrepreneurs designed to aid the development of their business plans, and assist them in the process of getting their companies off the ground.

In relation to healthcare start-ups specifically, the Government is committed, as outlined in Action 7.2.1 of the Action Plan for Jobs 2012, to deliver a Health Innovation Hub to drive collaboration between the health system and commercial enterprises leading to the development and commercialisation of new healthcare technologies, products, services and start-ups emerging from within the health system and/or firms.

In October, together with Minister for Health Dr James Reilly, I launched a Demonstrator Project for the Health Innovation Hub at University College Cork. The Health Innovation Hub seeks to harness Ireland’s vibrant Life Science industrial and clinical base by securing health system participation in driving commercialisation pathways for innovative health related products and services and contributing to the health service transformation agenda. Healthcare, which is a key global market, requires innovation derived from clinical involvement with healthcare professionals and testing and validation in real world clinical settings to create exportable platforms.

The Hub provides a framework for the health and enterprise sectors to work together to develop the innovative new solutions required to support the global healthcare transformation agenda. The Hub’s primary function will be to support the generation, development, validation, evaluation and implementation of new healthcare initiatives. This will involve the healthcare, research and enterprise sectors working together in close collaboration to provide an effective route for new innovations from the outside (i.e. enterprise sector, researcher community) to access the healthcare system for development, validation, evaluation and to support the adoption and commercialisation of new innovations developed by healthcare practitioners inside the system.

For the life sciences industry, the Hub is an opportunity to get access to the health service in order to develop and test new ideas and ultimately create new products and services that the health service can use and which can then be developed as commercially viable businesses.

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