In this future, the enhanced connection between climate, sustainability and health across all political areas has led to health systems that are better at preventing diseases, minimising interventions, optimising the patient pathway and increasing the number of healthy life years of people in Europe. The healthcare sector has embedded sustainability across operations, innovations and supply chains. A competitive medical technology industry is providing safe, innovative, and sustainable solutions that deliver even better patient outcomes. Modernised healthcare systems serve patients within an overall resource-efficient, digitally enabled and competitive economy that fuels Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness and leverages the EU Green Deal to bring benefits for people, planet and business alike.
As the EU navigates its sustainability journey, the medical technology sector is committed to enhancing patient care, promoting sustainable growth, creating high-quality jobs, fostering research and innovation and positioning itself as a leader in driving forward more sustainable practices in healthcare.
Several levers stand out for making healthcare system more environmentally, socially and financially sustainable: regulatory coherence, trusted partnerships and healthcare ecosystem thinking, no compromises on patient safety and tapping into the synergies between the green and digital agendas.
The EU Clean Industrial Deal presents an opportunity to confirm the strategic relevance of the medical technology sector for health, sustainable prosperity and competitiveness. It should fuel Europe’s attractiveness for medical technology innovation by creating the right enabling framework for a competitive medical technology industry – at the political, regulatory, and financial levels. To that end, the Clean Industrial Deal should boost regulatory coherence and consistency, simplify administrative processes, develop lead markets of sustainable and resilient products, mobilise public and private funding for the transition, harness partnerships, strengthen the EU Single Market and ensure a global level playing field.
Sustainable finance systems should support economic growth while reducing pressures on the environment and taking into account social and governance aspects to help achieve the EU’s sustainability and competitiveness ambitions. Investments in healthcare, a revitalised EU Single Market and a streamlined sustainability regulatory environment are all key to enabling Europe to maintain its competitive and innovative edge while securing an uninterrupted supply of medical technologies to patients to satisfy their daily healthcare needs.
MedTech Europe also plays a critical role in supporting SMEs by providing access to best practices, tools and guidance for addressing sustainability in their products and operations.
