Opportunities for Austrian Medical Technology in the UK

Opportunities for Austrian Medical Technology in the UK / Picture: © Vindobona.org

Health expenditure accounts for more than 120 billion British pounds annually in Britain or 9% of the GDP, the public sector being responsible for over 80% of this amount: the British National Health Service (NHS) is the world's third largest public employer. "Basically, the British medical technology market is highly dependent on imports. Only a few small manufacturers are active and their production is mainly for export", says George Karabaczek, Austrian economic delegate. The domestic demand cannot be satisfied with the quantities produced and British patients often require more innovative technologies. Karabaczek adds: "There are good opportunities on the British medical technology market for foreign suppliers with high quality solutions."

The Austrian products presented ranged from innovative solutions for wound healing, microsensors for orthodontic treatment and disposal systems for liquids to complete solutions for digital image communication. Karabaczek said: "British experts assessed the Austrian technologies as very positive and were simply enthralled by some solutions. Accordingly, these companies have great opportunities given the right approach to the British market."

Austrian exports to the UK recovered clearly in 2010 from the disruption caused by the economic crisis and grew by 15% to € 3.3bn. Imports increased by 7.7% to € 1.7bn. Besides medical technology, there are particularly good export opportunities for products that enable increased productivity and niche products with high technical standards. In the field of medical technology, these are in particular solutions that help a National Health Service plagued by financial problems to offer its patients a more efficient service at a better price-performance ratio.