Health Policy Barriers to Innovation: the case of medical devices for hemodialysis

Abstract

The impact of the European financial crisis on adopting innovation for healthcare management following clinical research and development, seems to include more than a matter of adequate funding. There are arguments that changes are needed in approaches adopted to research conducted within health systems. The “Europe 2020” policy project builds arguments from this initial premise. This is one of the reasons why one of its key aims is to identify ways to remove barriers from clinical research and technology transfer and sustain innovation in healthcare. Large, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and universities are to be the engine of innovation for healthcare. However, they are challenged by escalating costs of clinical trials and the long time-frame for the development of health care products. Solutions put forward within “Europe 2020”, include the setting of a single market for innovation and that funding would be better coordinated along the innovation chain - from basic research down to launching new products and services to the market and the creation of public-private partnerships to bring more innovations to market faster.