Medilink Midlands’ Connectivity Manager Chris Dyke recently participated in a trade mission in Madrid, to promote the Midlands region to life sciences businesses and discover the opportunities the Spanish market has to offer. In this blog, he reports on the event and shares his key learnings.
Warm welcome for the Midlands
In March 2023, Medilink Midlands was invited to support a new Department for Business and Trade approach to trade and inward investment by DBT Midlands Team and UK’s Madrid Embassy Trade office.
Medilink Midlands was joined by the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN), the Centre for Healthcare Equipment & Technology (CHEATA), the Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF), and the West Midlands Growth Company (WMCG) in presenting the opportunities and support available to companies wishing to engage in trade with the Midlands or set up their business or offices here. The delegation was also supported by a number of regional businesses including AUSTCO Ltd, Starfish Labs Ltd, Brainberry Ltd and Blum Healthcare Ltd, all of which are looking to expand their markets internationally and move into Spain/Madrid.
Alongside city hosts, we met with Sergio Muñoz Lezcano, Chief Innovation Officer at FENIN, the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology Companies, and a number of its members in the medtech space. Following this, we were welcomed by Carlos Díez-Ruza, President of MAD – the Madrid e-health cluster. We then presented the Midlands offer and heard from and later networked with a number of innovative and well-established Spanish e-health medical innovators.
We also listened to presentations and attended meetings with an interesting range of Spanish companies wishing to explore the Midlands and UK market. These were the first of many conversations we hope to engage in with Madrid and Spain and demonstrated the potential of working as a connected team, each with different forms of support to offer in promoting the Midlands.
Many ideas for the future and new relationships were forged during the trip. One of the key messages for our sector was the fact that entering a Spanish speaking market opens up a massive market in Southern America. The businesses we met from Madrid and Barcelona already have access to these channels and are looking to grow them.
We were also lucky enough to attend the UK-Spain Business Awards, presented by Spanish trade minister Xiana Méndez and UK ambassador Hugh Elliott. Showcased at the event were a host of British companies making significant impact in Spain not only in trade and investment terms but within sustainability and net zero too.
Key facts about the Spanish life sciences market
Some of the key points raised at the event include:
- Spain has a population of 47 million, with the fourth largest economy in the EU
- The Spanish pharmaceutical market is ranked eighth in the world and fifth in Europe
- Spain’s demographics are favourable for the development of new products and clinical trials, with 20% of the population over 65 and with a high overall life expectancy of 84
- Spain has a strong public health care system, with approximately 464 public hospitals, and a thriving private health care system, with around 441 private hospitals
- 80% of Spain’s medical devices are imported
With the UK well known in Spain for its strong regulatory regime and excellence in the life sciences, there are significant opportunities for innovative businesses to break into the Spanish market, with some of the key growth areas highlighted including:
- Big data, digital health and AI
- Technologies for the aged care sector
- Remote monitoring in primary care
- Net zero technologies
- Niche contract research for drug discovery and drug development
- Collaboration within genomics, vaccines (research, development and manufacture), and 3D imaging
The weather was warm and inviting and as were all of the people, companies and the organisations we met. I’d like to thank everyone who made this trade and investment mission possible, both here in the Midlands and in Spain.
If the opportunities described are of interest, please do get in touch, and we can connect you with the UK / Spanish Department of Business and Trade.
You can watch the presentations from the event here:
Midlands team – presentation of companies and eHealth projects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZbH-n3d1NI
Spanish businesses – presentation of companies and eHealth projects: