Symbiotic Partnerships - A Path Forward in a MedTech Startup World - Part 1: The Importance of a Thriving Startup Landscape in Asia Pacific

Innovation is a lifeblood. For the MedTech industry, it offers opportunities and new paths to better patient outcomes, potentially enhancing the quality of life for individuals who may not have had the opportunity for diagnostics or treatment beforehand. The Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) shares that in Asia Pacific alone, over 90%+ of the 30,000 MedTech regional companies are startups or SMEs, with over USD 40 billion invested in post-pandemic R&D programs. Innovation comes from many avenues, but recently, the emergence of startups is something I have certainly witnessed.

I have a privileged vantage point of viewing the continued evolution of MedTech startups in Asia Pacific (and beyond) in two distinct and unique ways. Firstly, as the APACMed Board Sponsor for Startups, I am constantly inspired by innovative earlier-stage companies and their passion for bringing fresh ideas, cutting-edge research, and a willingness to take risks that push the envelope when it comes to healthcare solutions.

Secondly, working for a global MedTech company, I get to see firsthand how startups are aided by collaborating symbiotically with larger corporations, leveraging on each other’s tools and expertise to forge a path to market.  I will elaborate more on this concept in Part 2.

But the intersection of startups and large corporations does not happen by chance, and this is where industry associations such as APACMed are crucial in providing opportunities for these parties to meet and strengthen the industry. The existence of startups, the need for networking, upskilling, and more recently, matchmaking (ensuring that the right startups are liaising with large corporations that are a good fit), are crucial for innovation to thrive in the MedTech industry. I will offer more insights about this in Part 3.

Back on point, for large MedTech corporations, startups are invaluable partners. They act as external innovation hubs, generating solutions that can potentially be integrated into larger companies' product lines, or ‘enabling technologies’ that allow a larger organisation to provide a solution or service not previously offered.  More recently, we are seeing significant strides in the AI, digital, and robotics space.  Ultimately, many of these novel innovations could serve to expand a corporate’s solutions across the patient care pathway.

This symbiotic relationship enables large companies to stay competitive and relevant in rapidly changing markets, whilst allowing startups to leverage a corporate’s resources and expertise, thereby positioning their product to develop into a successful commercialized solution. By investing in or collaborating with startups, large corporations can expand their innovation pipeline and bring new solutions to the market more swiftly. Olympus has invested in, collaborated with, and acquired SMEs and startups to enhance our product offerings.  An example of this would be our iTind urology offering.  By integrating innovations, Olympus has been able to stay true to one of its corporate strategies of concentrating on the provision of minimally invasive surgical solutions.

Another benefit of a robust startups and SMEs ecosystem lies in their areas of focus, often on niche markets and more specialized domains that larger corporations may not be currently invested in.  Large corporations’ innovations generally tend to align with their legacy business strategies.  They rely on startups and SMEs to think outside the box. Granted, this does carry a risk; but that is inherently the nature of earlier-stage innovation development. I personally feel that by pushing the boundaries of what is possible, startups have the real potential to help drive the entire industry forward, moving everyone towards better patient outcomes.

While I talk about the importance of startups in this write-up, in my next piece, I’ll share on the role that corporates play.